International equine gene mapping workshop report: A comprehensive linkage map constructed with data from new markers and by merging four mapping resources

A comprehensive male linkage map was generated by adding 359 new, informative microsatellites to the International Equine Gene Map half-sibling reference families and by combining genotype data from three independent mapping resources: a full sibling family created at the Animal Health Trust in Newmarket, United Kingdom, eight half-sibling families from Sweden and two half-sibling families from the University of California, Davis. Because the combined data were derived primarily from half-sibling families, only autosomal markers were analyzed. The map was constructed from a total of 766 markers distributed on the 31 equine chromosomes. It has a higher marker density than that of previously reported maps, with 626 markers linearly ordered and 140 other markers assigned to a chromosomal region. Fifty-nine markers (7 %) failed to meet the criteria for statistical evidence of linkage and remain unassigned. The map spans 3,740 cM with an average distance of 6.3 cM between markers. Fifty-five percent of the intervals are ≤5 cM and only 3% >20 cM. The present map demonstrates the cohesiveness of the different data sets and provides a single resource for genome scan analyses and integration with the radiation hybrid map.