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Marsupial Linkage Maps

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Marsupial Genetics and Genomics

Abstract

Linkage maps provide information not only on the linear order of genetic loci on chromosomes; they also reveal the locations and frequencies of crossover events during gametogenesis. As such they have been invaluable resources for genetic mapping for nearly 100 years and continue to be extremely useful for providing insight into the meiotic process and disruptions thereof that physical mapping strategies cannot furnish. Linkage mapping research with marsupial mammals had a late inception due to a long-standing lack of animal resources amenable to the reliable, multigenerational breeding programs necessary for the establishment of genetic lines and tools required for linkage-mapping studies. As this impediment was overcome through the establishment of several self-perpetuating marsupial breeding colonies late in the twentieth century, linkage mapping studies began to uncover evidence of unexpectedly low rates and unusual sex-specific patterns of recombination that run counter to those observed for almost all other vertebrates examined. This chapter describes the history of linkage research in marsupials, summarizes the linkage maps of the tammar wallaby and the gray, short-tailed opossum, considers the value of these linkage maps in connection with the recent opossum and wallaby genome projects, and discusses the extent and implications of low recombination rates and sex-specific recombination differences in these species. The chapter ends with speculation on the potential of the opossum as a model for recombination research.

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Acknowledgments

The author’s work is supported in part by grant RR014214 from the National Center for Research Resources of the National institutes of Health (USA).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Veterinary Integrative Biosciences, College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, 77843, USA

    Paul B. Samollow

  2. Faculty of Genetics, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, 77843, USA

    Paul B. Samollow

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Correspondence to Paul B. Samollow .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. , Ecology, Evolution&Genetics, The Austral, ARC Centre for Excellence for Kangaroo G, Research School of Biology, building 46, Canberra ACT, 0200, Australia

    Janine E. Deakin

  2. , Ecology, Evolution&Genetics, The Austral, ARC Centre for Excellence for Kangaroo G, Research School of Biology, building 46, Canberra ACT, 0200, Australia

    Paul D. Waters

  3. , Ecology, Evolution and Genetics, ARC Centre of Excellence for Kangaroo Ge, Buidling 46, Canberra ACT, 0200, Australia

    Jennifer A. Marshall Graves

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Samollow, P.B. (2010). Marsupial Linkage Maps. In: Deakin, J., Waters, P., Marshall Graves, J. (eds) Marsupial Genetics and Genomics. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-9023-2_4

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