Mapping of repetitive bovine DNA sequences on cattle Y chromosomes

Three male-specific PCR products of the sequences BC1.2, lambda ES6.0, and BRY.1 were used as probes for Southern blot analyses. Each of these probes generated a complex male-specific band pattern, which showed some quantitative variations among bulls. Hybridization patterns obtained with the BC1.2 and lambda ES6.0 PCR products were interrelated. Chromosomal locations of these repeats were determined by hybridizing the tritiated PCR products in situ to male metaphase spreads. The BC1.2 and lambda ES6.0 PCR products hybridized to Yp13-->p12, whereas the BRY.1 PCR product hybridized over the entire Y chromosome. In addition, the BC1.2 and lambda ES6.0 PCR products hybridized to the distal half of the acrocentric Y chromosome of Bos indicus, indicating that the short arm of the B. taurus Y chromosome is homologous with the telomeric end of the B. indicus Y and supporting the notion that the Y chromosomes of these two species differ by a pericentric inversion.