Physical mapping of immune genes in the tammar wallaby (Macropus eugenii)

The tammar wallaby (Macropus eugenii) is a model marsupial that has recently had its genome sequenced to a depth of 2-fold coverage. Although this is a great resource for comparative genomic studies, information on gene location is essential if this resource is to be used to its full potential. In this study, tammar wallaby bacterial artificial chromosomes (BACs) containing key immune genes were isolated from the tammar wallaby BAC library. BACs containing T cell receptor (TCR) and immunoglobulin (Ig) genes were physically mapped using fluorescence in situ hybridisation (FISH) to tammar wallaby chromosomes. Congruence between the locations of these immune genes in the tammar wallaby genome, with those predicted from chromosome painting data, highlights the conservation of genomic context of these important immune genes in marsupials. The isolation and mapping of these key immune genes in the tammar wallaby will aid in the assembly of the recently sequenced light coverage genome and assignment of sequence to chromosomes.