Physical mapping of centromeric and terminal markers of linkage groups in Xenopus tropicalis

Xenopus tropicalis belongs together with its related genus Xenopus laevis to important model organisms on the field of study of developmental processes. In comparison to well introduced models (i.e. Melanogaster, Mus etc.) for Xenopus tropicalis there is an absence of linkage and physical maps that have invaluable importance for the identification of developmentally relevant genes, including their syntheny with human. Currently, there exists provisional linkage map constructed by scientific group of Department of Biology and Biochemistry, University of Huston, Texas, USA. It is constituted of ten linkage groups (LG1-LG10) and six linkage clusters (A-F) composed by total of 1713 Simple Sequence Repeat (SSR) polymorphic markers. The laboratory of developmental biology, Charles University in Prague, participates in completing the linkage map by physical mapping of chosen polymorphic markers on chromosomes Xenopus tropicalis, which led to allocation of each linkage group and cluster to the right chromosome and to assessment of the orientation in most of them. The physical mapping of terminal markers will show us, how far chromosomes are covered with linkage groups and which areas still remain unmapped. The cooperative laboratory from National Institute for Medical Research, London, UK, originated a list of..