Conservation of syntenic relationships among microsatellites between poecilia and xiphophorus

The guppy is unique in the degree to which environmental variables shiaping phenotypic variation are known. Genomic resources have been developed in Xiphophorus due to their utility in the study of melanoma. If linkage maps for the guppy and Xiphophorus are similar, Xiphophorus genomic resources will be useful in the guppy. I used an F2 mapping cross of divergent populations of guppies to construct partial genetic linkage maps incorporating microsatellite markers derived from Xiphophorus. Flanking regions for a sample of microsatellites occurring in maps for both taxa were sequenced in guppies and compared to published sequences from Xiphophorus. This confirmed that these loci were homologous. The female map co~mprises sixteen linked markers on six linkage groups and the male map comprises 24 markers on nine linkagle groups. Linkage relationships among loci homologous in guppies and Xiphophorus primarily show conservation of genetic architecture between species, but several major changes were detected.