Development of Y chromosome intraspecific polymorphic markers in the Felidae.

Y chromosome haplotyping based on microsatellites and single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) has proved to be a powerful tool for population genetic studies of humans. However, the promise of the approach is hampered in the majority of nonhuman mammals by the lack of Y-specific polymorphic markers. We were able to identify new male-specific polymorphisms in the domestic cat Felis catus and 6 additional Felidae species with a combination of molecular genetic and cytogenetic approaches including 1) identifying domestic cat male-specific microsatellites from markers generated from a male cat microsatellite-enriched genomic library, a flow-sorted Y cosmid library, or a Y-specific cat bacteria artificial chromosome (BAC) clone, (2) constructing microsatellite-enriched libraries from flow-sorted Y chromosomes isolated directly from focal wildcat species, and (3) screening Y chromosome conserved anchored tagged sequences primers in Felidae species.