Sex identification of turkey embryos using a multiplex polymerase chain reaction

A considerable portion of the W chromosome in Gallinaceous birds consists of tandem repetitive DNA. In the turkey, a 0.4-kb PstI element is repeated about 10,000 times in the female diploid genome but is undetectable as such a unit in males. In this study a multiplex polymerase chain reaction was developed to identify the sex of turkeys based upon the PstI repeat. The technique utilized two pairs of primers, the first pair was designed to amplify a region of the PstI repetitive element, resulting in the production of a 177-bp fragment in females. The other pair was designed to amplify a region of the adenosine triphosphate (ATP) synthase gene, present in both males and females. The simultaneous use of all four primers in the same reaction resulted in the coamplification of a 177-bp and a 250-bp fragment in females and a 250-bp fragment in males. This technique was used to verify the sex of 45 adults of known sex and to identify the sex of 74 embryos from Day 5 to hatch. This procedure is rapid and permits the sexing of many embryos in a short time. The ability to sex early embryos can facilitate studies on avian sex determination.