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Luo, S.-J.; Johnson, W.E.; David, V.A.; Menotti Raymond, M.; Stanyon, R.; Cai, Q.X.; Beck, T.; Yuhki, N.; Slattery-Pecon, J.; Smith, J.L.D.; O'Brien, S.J.
Development of Y Chromosome Intraspecific Polymorphic Markers in the Felidae
2007  Journal of Heredity (98): 400-413

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. Forty-one male-specific microsatellites were identified, but only 6 were single-copy loci, consistent with the repetitive nature of the Y chromosome. Nucleotide diversity of Y-linked intron sequences (2.1 kbp) was in the range of 0 (tiger) to 9.95 x 10-4 (marbled cat), and the number of SNPs ranged from none in the tiger to 7 in the Asian leopard cat. The Y haplotyping system described here, consisting of 4 introns (SMCY3, SMCY7, UTY11, and DBY7 ) and 1 polymorphic microsatellite (SMCY-STR), represents the first available markers for tracking intraspecific male lineage polymorphisms in Felidae species and promises to provide significant insights to evolutionary and population genetic studies of the species.

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