New, male-specific microsatellite markers from the human Y chromosome

Seven novel microsatellite markers have been developed from a new cosmid library constructed from flow-sorted human Y chromosomes. These microsatellites are tetranucleotide GATA repeats and are polymorphic among unrelated individuals. Five of the seven markers are male-specific, with no PCR product being generated from female DNA. One marker produces male-specific, polymorphic PCR products but occasionally produces a much larger, invariant product from female DNA. The remaining marker is polymorphic in both males and females with many shared alleles between the sexes. This report of six new, male-specific markers doubles the number of tetranucleotide markers that are currently available for the human Y chromosome. These new markers will be valuable where nonrecombining, gender-specific DNA markers are desired, including forensic investigations as well as studies of populations and their evolutionary histories.