Open AccessA Bacterial Artificial Chromosome-Based Genetic Linkage Map of the Nematode Pristionchus pacificus
Author(s) -
Jagan Srinivasan,
Waltraud Sinz,
Christa Lanz,
Alexandra Brand,
Ramkumar Nandakumar,
Günter Raddatz,
Hanh Witte,
Heike Keller,
Isabel Kipping,
André Pires-daSilva,
Taco Jesse,
Jun Millare,
Michiel de Both,
Stephan C. Schuster,
Ralf J. Sommer
Publication year - 2002
Publication title -
genetics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.792
H-Index - 246
eISSN - 1943-2631
pISSN - 0016-6731
DOI - 10.1093/genetics/162.1.129
Subject(s) - biology , genetics , caenorhabditis elegans , gene , chromosome , genetic linkage , bacterial artificial chromosome , gene mapping , strain (injury) , nematode , positional cloning , genome , evolutionary biology , phenotype , ecology , anatomy
To understand the evolution of developmental processes, nonmodel organisms in the nematodes, insects, and vertebrates are compared with established model systems. Often, these comparisons suffer from the inability to apply sophisticated technologies to these nonmodel species. In the nematode Pristionchus pacificus, cellular and genetic analyses are used to compare vulva development to that of Caenorhabditis elegans. However, substantial changes in gene function between P. pacificus and C. elegans limit the use of candidate gene approaches in studying P. pacificus mutations. To facilitate map-based cloning of mutations in P. pacificus, we constructed a BAC-based genetic linkage map. A BAC library of 13,440 clones was generated and completely end sequenced. By comparing BAC end and EST sequences between the "wild-type" strain P. pacificus var. California and the polymorphic strain P. pacificus var. Washington, 133 single-stranded conformational polymorphisms were identified. These markers were tested on a meiotic mapping panel of 46 randomly picked F(2) animals after a cross of the two strains, providing the first genetic linkage map of P. pacificus. A mapping strategy using two selected markers per chromosome was devised and the efficiency of this approach was illustrated by the mapping of the Ppa-unc-1/Twitchin gene.