Authors : Ping-Er Lou, Ying-Kai Liu, Tao Wang, Ming-Zhou Li and Xue-Wei Li
Abstract: Monozygotic (MZ) twins having the same DNA information have been used for many biomedical studies. Pigs present high similarity with humans and have been used as an ideal mammalian model the use of MZ twins is even more valuable. In the study, researchers present a systematic method for the stepwise exclusion of inconsistently genotyped individuals in a large population by Short Tandem Repeat (STR) genotyping. Five pairs of microsatellite markers with different fluorescent dyes were selected and their reliability was tested. The results demonstrate that the cumulative exclusion rate of all markers was 99.67% in 1,201 pigs; two pairs of MZ twins were initially identified. Researchers have established an effective, easy and cheap way to identify MZ twin pigs.
Ping-Er Lou, Ying-Kai Liu, Tao Wang, Ming-Zhou Li and Xue-Wei Li, 2013. Identification of Monozygotic Twins in Pigs Using Optimized Fluorescent Microsatellite Markers. Journal of Animal and Veterinary Advances, 12: 225-228.