Microsatellite Markers used in parentage testing can have many different sizes and it is this variability that makes them useful for parentage analysis. All animals, including humans, have two copies of each gene. Parentage testing relies on the principle that an individual will inherit one copy from its mother and one from its father. Therefore, if a particular marker size (called an ‘allele’) is present in the calf, but absent in both of the nominated parents, then the parents must be excluded from the calf’s pedigree. Parentage testing is based on the exclusion of relationship when an animal has a genotype inconsistent to a putative relationship.
The Method involves DNA Extraction from Sire, Dam and Calf – Multiplex PCR Amplification of microsatellite markers – Capillary Electrophoresis – Comparison of Calf DNA with Sire and Dam DNA to establish relationship.
