Establishment of genetic characteristics and individual identification system using microsatellite loci in domestic beef cattle.

DNA marker information is used to identify or distinguish cattle breeds or individual animal. The purpose of this study was to apply Bovine Genotypes Kit Version 1.1/2.1 to bovine DNA samples (National Institute of Animal Science) taken from Australian / American beef (n=148), Holstein beef (n=170) and Hanwoo cattle (n=177) bred in Jeongeub, Jeonbuk, Korea, so that it could distinguish Hanwoo breed. The Bovine Genotype Kits consist of 16 ISAG MS markers, which were used to build a database of genotypes in each group. Genotyping results were analyzed using MS Tool kit and Phylip program to create phylogenetic tree. The GeneClass 2.0 was used to estimate breed identification. These analyses found that this kit had 100% capacity to distinguish Hanwoo beef, 95.3% capacity to differentiate Australian / American beef and 90% capacity to identify Korean Holstein steer beef. Hence, it is expected that 16 commercial microsatellite markers is useful to categorizegenetic characteristics of Hanwoo breed and also identify Hanwoo individuals and the origin of beef. In particular, it is expected that these markers will be advantageous in discriminating domestic Holstein beef from Australian / Americanbeef. (Key words : Hanwoo, Microsatellite, Individual identification, Geneclass analysis, Phylogenetic analysis)