Polymerase chain reaction multiplexing of microsatellites and single nucleotide polymorphism markers for quantitative trait loci mapping of wild house mice

We tested 96 microsatellites and 10 single nucleotide polymorphisms for their allelic distribution in two subspecies of the house mouse, Mus musculus musculus and M. m. domesticus. Sixty-two microsatellites discriminated strain-specific differences among nine wild-derived 'musculus' and 'domesticus' and three 'classical' laboratory strains. For efficient genotyping, we optimized multiplex conditions using five microsatellites per polymerase chain reaction. All 10 single nucleotide polymorphisms were also optimized for simultaneous analysis in one reaction using SNaPshot multiplex. The uniform distribution of markers on autosomes and on the X chromosome makes these panels potentially useful tools for quantitative trait loci mapping of wild house mice.