title: Construction and characterization of a Lipotes vexillifer genomic DNA BAC library.
abstract: We constructed a genomic DNA library for Lipotes vexillifer (L. vexillifer), the Baiji or Yangtze River dolphin, one of the most endangered mammals in the world. The library consists of 149,000 BAC clones, with an average insert size of 83 kb, representing approximately 3.4 haploid genome equivalents. PCR amplification of four known L. vexillifer genes yielded two to four positive clones each. To demonstrate the utility of this library, we isolated and sequenced the L. vexillifer alpha lactalbumin gene, which is a gene specific to mammals and one which has been widely used as molecular tool in phylogenetic analysis. We also end-sequenced 20 randomly selected clones, resulting in the identification of at least five new L. vexillifer genes, five SSR loci, and one SINE locus. These results suggest that this library is a valuable resource for candidate gene cloning, physical mapping, and genome sequencing of this important and threatened species.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Hydrobiology, The Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan, China.
authors.forename: Bo
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Du
authors.forename: Xian-Feng
authors.initials: XF
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Sheng-Guo
authors.initials: SG
authors.lastname: Fang
authors.forename: Ding
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Wang
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002874:Chromosome Mapping; D022202:Chromosomes, Artificial, Bacterial; D003247:Conservation of Natural Resources; D004289:Dolphins / Q000235:genetics*; D005784:Gene Amplification; D005821:Genetic Techniques; D015698:Genomic Library; D007768:Lactalbumin / Q000235:genetics*; D008970:Molecular Weight; D013045:Species Specificity
chemical_list: D007768:Lactalbumin