This article is part of the supplement: Third International Workshop on Major Genes and QTL in Sheep and Goats; 8–11 December 2003, Toulouse, France

Proceedings

A presentation of the differences between the sheep and goat genetic maps

Jillian F Maddox

• Correspondence: Jillian F Maddox jfmaddox@unimelb.edu.au

Author Affiliations

Centre for Animal Biotechnology, The University of Melbourne, Victoria 3010, Australia

Genetics Selection Evolution 2005, 37(Suppl 1):S1-S10 doi:10.1186/1297-9686-37-S1-S1

The electronic version of this article is the complete one and can be found online at: http://www.gsejournal.org/content/37/S1/S1

Accepted:	1 September 2004
Published:	15 December 2005

© 2005 INRA, EDP Sciences

Abstract

The current autosomal version (4.2) of the sheep genetic map comprises 1175 loci and spans ~3540 cM. This corresponds to almost complete coverage of the sheep genome. Each chromosome is represented by a single linkage group, with the largest gap between adjacent loci being 19.8 cM. In contrast the 1998 goat genetic map (the most recently published) is much less well developed spanning 2737 cM and comprising only 307 loci. Only one of the goat chromosomes appears to have complete coverage (chromosome 27), and 16 of the chromosomes are comprised of two or more linkage groups, or a linkage group and one or more unlinked markers. The two maps share 218 loci, and the maps have been aligned using the shared loci as reference points. Overall there is good agreement between the maps in terms of homologous loci mapping to equivalent chromosomes in the two species, with only four markers mapping to non-equivalent chromosomes. However, there are lots of inversions in locus order between the sheep and goat chromosomes. Whilst some of these differences in locus order may be genuine, the majority are likely to be a consequence of the paucity of genetic information for the goat map.

Proceedings

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