Chromosome-specific Intron Size Differences in the Avian CHD Gene Provide an Efficient Method for Sex Identification in Birds

to this problem for some species (e.g. Griffiths and Holland 1990, Quinn et al. 1990, Rabenold et al. 1991, Dvorak et al. 1992, Longmire et al. 1993, Ogawa et al. 1997), but their use requires considerable xpertise, and often their taxonomic range is limited. More recently, PCR-based approaches that are technically simpler and that have broad taxonomic utility have been developed (Ogawa et al. 1997). The discovery of a highly conserved gene (CHD) that is linked to the W and a non-W chromosome in