FISH mapping of bovine U21, U1 and U7 molecular markers to river buffalo chromosomes 3p, 5q and 5p.

Three bovine cosmid-derived microsatellites (IDV-GA49, IDVGA7 and IDVGA47), previously assigned to cattle syntenic groups U1, U7 and U21, respectively, were fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) mapped to river buffalo (Bubalus bubalis, L., 2n= 50) chromosomes (BBU) 3p22 (IDVGA47, U21), BBU 5q21 (IDVGA49, U1) and BBU 5p19 (IDVGA7, U7) using sequential FISH and R-banding techniques. These localizations allowed the assignment, for the first time, of the bovine syntenic groups U21, U1 and U7 to specific river buffalo chromosomes. FISH mapping of IDVGA7 (U7) to cattle rob(1;29) p-arms confirms the banding homologies between BTA 29 and BBU 5p and further supports the idea that cattle standard karyotypes need adjustments.