FISH mapping of six genes responsible for development of the nervous and skeletal systems on donkey (Equus asinus) chromosomes

Abstract

The results obtained in the present study made it possible to place selected markers responsible for development of the nervous and skeletal systems on the physical map of the donkey genome. Fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) was used to localize genes such as GDF5 (15q13), FRZB (4q23.1), TWIST (1q31), PAX6 (20q25), SALL1 (24q15) and SHH (1q35) on donkey chromosomes. The identification of their localization confirmed previously proposed homologies using ZOO-FISH technique, except for FRZB and SALL1 genes. This suggests that they were affected by rearrangements that changed their localization compared to horse, and in the case of the SALL1 gene also compared to human.