NCAM: a polymorphic microsatellite locus conserved across eutherian mammal species.

A dinucleotide microsatellite was found to be conserved at the 3' untranslated end of the neural cell adhesion molecule (NCAM) gene in cattle, rat and human. The high level of sequence conservation found in this gene allows the use of a single set of PCR primers to amplify sequence spanning the repeat in many species. Sequence analysis revealed the conservation of the dinucleotide repeat in all eutherian mammal species studied with variation in length as well as internal structure caused by base substitutions. Polymorphisms were seen across five mammalian orders, in rat, buffalo, sheep, cow, whale and dolphin, with polymorphisms predicted in pig and dugong based on the length of the uninterrupted dinucleotide repeat.