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The diagnosis of freemartinism in cattle using sex-specific DNA sequences
S Ennis1, L Vaughan, T F Gallagher
1Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University College Dublin, Dublin, 4, Ireland.
Research in Veterinary Science
|July 30, 1999
Abstract:
The majority of heifers born co-twins to bulls are infertile freemartins. It is important that the condition be diagnosed at an early age as freemartins have no potential for use as replacement stock. A rapid, robust, reliable technique for freemartin diagnosis is described. Three Y-specific polymerase chain reaction (PCR) primer pairs: BOV97M, BRY.1 and AMX/Y were used to detect male cells in the blood of heifers born co-twins to bulls. PCR -based tests have advantages over currently used methods of freemartin diagnosis.