Linkage mapping of the bovine bone morphogenetic protein receptor-1B (BMPR1B ) to chromosome 6.

Source/description of primers: A mutation in the ovine bonemorphogenetic protein receptor-1B (BMPR1B) gene is associated with an increased ovulation rate phenotype in Booroola Merino sheep. Therefore, BMPR1B is considered as a candidate gene for ovulation rate in cattle. A cDNA was obtained for porcine BMPR1B and the gene was mapped in the porcine genome. Comparison of the ovine and porcine BMPR1B cDNA sequences indicated that they are highly conserved. Therefore, a pair of primers derived from the porcine BMPR1B cDNA, which amplified across intron 8 in the pig, were used to amplify the bovine genomic DNA. The forward (NZ-F1) and reverse (exon9-R1) primers correspond to bases 1041–1064 and 1289–1265 of the porcine BMPR1B cDNA (GenBank accession no. AF432128), respectively. Agarose gel electrophoresis and sequencing of the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplicons of bovine genomic DNA indicated that the size of this product was 1253 bp (GenBank accession no. AY242067).