Cross amplification of microsatellites between chicken and Japanese quail.

Microsatellites have been extensively used in development of the chicken genome-map and therefore, are preferred DNA markers for genomic studies. Using the chicken-specific microsatellites, many markers have been developed for Japanese quail. The current study employed ten microsatellite primers (Five chicken and five quail specific) for PCR amplification aimed at genomic analysis of quails and chickens (WLH, Kadaknath and Ankleshwar breeds). Four quail-specific primers: AB035839, AB035844, AB035851 and AB035859 showed cross-amplification in chicken. Similarly, four chicken-specific primers: ADL0145, ADL0023, LEI0136, and GCT0053 showed cross-amplification in quails. In all cases of cross-amplification (chicken primers in quail and vice-versa) the PCR-product size varied. The microsatellites of chicken showed polymorphism between different chicken breeds. For all quail-specific primers cross-amplified in chicken, a smaller product size was usually obtained except for AB035859 where it was comparable between species. No such trend was observed for chicken-specific primers cross-amplified in quails as two primers: ADL0145 and ADL0023 showed smaller product while GCT0053 and LEI0136 showed larger products in quail as compared to chicken. The quail-specific microsatellites showed heterozygosity in quails but were isomorphic in chicken. Among chickens, Ankleshwar was found heterozygous for all the five chicken-specific loci while WLH and Kadaknath were heterozygous for GCT0053 and LEI0136 only. LEI0136 proved to be the most informative of all as it was universally amplified and was equally heterozygous in quails and all chicken breeds. It was therefore, inferred that majority of microsatellites used in this study showed cross-amplification between quail and chicken. Therefore, such microsatellites could be successfully used for phylogenetic analyses and deducing evolutionary relationships and developing species specific markers for chickens and quails.