%0 Journal Article %T An accurate method for quantifying and analyzing copy number variation in porcine KIT by an oligonucleotide ligation assay %A Bo-Young Seo %A Eung-Woo Park %A Sung-Jin Ahn %A Sang-Ho Lee %A Jae-Hwan Kim %A Hyun-Tae Im %A Jun-Heon Lee %A In-Cheol Cho %A Il-Keun Kong %A Jin-Tae Jeon %J BMC Genetics %D 2007 %I BioMed Central %R 10.1186/1471-2156-8-81 %X PCR followed by a quantitative oligonucleotide ligation assay (qOLA) was developed for quantifying CNVs. The accuracy and precision of the assay were evaluated for porcine KIT, which was selected as a model locus. Overall, the root mean squares of bias and standard deviation of qOLA were 2.09 and 0.45, respectively. These values are less than half of those in the published pyrosequencing assay for analyzing CNV in porcine KIT. Using a combined method of qOLA and another pyrosequencing for quantitative analysis of KIT copies with spliced forms, we confirmed the segregation of KIT alleles in 145 F1 animals with pedigree information and verified the correct assignment of genotypes. In a diagnostic test on 100 randomly sampled commercial pigs, there was perfect agreement between the genotypes obtained by grouping observations on a scatter plot and by clustering using the nearest centroid sorting method implemented in PROC FASTCLUS of the SAS package. In a test on 159 Large White pigs, there were only two discrepancies between genotypes assigned by the two clustering methods (98.7% agreement), confirming that the quantitative ligation assay established here makes genotyping possible through the accurate measurement of high KIT copy numbers (>4 per diploid genome). Moreover, the assay is sensitive enough for use on DNA from hair follicles, indicating that DNA from various sources could be used.We have established a high resolution quantification method using an oligonucleotide ligation assay to measure CNVs, and verified the reliability of genotype assignment for random animal samples using the nearest centroid sorting method. This new method will make it more practical to determine KIT CNV and to genotype the complicated Dominant White/KIT locus in pigs. This procedure could have wide applications for studying gene or segment CNVs in other species.Susceptibility to genetic disorders is known to be associated not only with single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP), but also w %U http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2156/8/81