Genet. Sel. Evol. 34 (2002) 275-305
DOI: 10.1051/gse:2002009

A review on SNP and other types of molecular markers and their use in animal genetics

Alain Vignal^a, Denis Milan^a, Magali SanCristobal^a and André Eggen<sup>b

a</sup>  Laboratoire de génétique cellulaire, Inra, chemin de Borde-Rouge, Auzeville BP 27, 31326 Castanet-Tolosan cedex, France
^b  Laboratoire de génétique biochimique et de cytogénétique, Inra, domaine de Vilvert, 78352 Jouy-en-Josas cedex, France

(Received 11 February 2002; accepted 8 March 2002)

Abstract
During the last ten years, the use of molecular markers, revealing polymorphism at the DNA level, has been playing an increasing part in animal genetics studies. Amongst others, the microsatellite DNA marker has been the most widely used, due to its easy use by simple PCR, followed by a denaturing gel electrophoresis for allele size determination, and to the high degree of information provided by its large number of alleles per locus. Despite this, a new marker type, named SNP, for Single Nucleotide Polymorphism, is now on the scene and has gained high popularity, even though it is only a bi-allelic type of marker. In this review, we will discuss the reasons for this apparent step backwards, and the pertinence of the use of SNPs in animal genetics, in comparison with other marker types.

Key words: SNP / microsatellite / molecular marker / genome / polymorphism

Correspondence and reprints: Alain Vignal
    e-mail: vignal@toulouse.inra.fr

© INRA, EDP Sciences 2002