Fast microchip electrophoresis using field strength gradients for single nucleotide polymorphism identification of cattle breeds

A microchip electrophoresis (ME) method was developed using a programmed field strength gradients (PFSG) for the single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) based fast identification of cattle breeds. Four different Korean cattle (Hanwoo) and Holstein SNP markers amplified by allele-specific polymerase chain reaction were separated in a glass microchip filled with 0.5% poly(ethyleneoxide) (M_r = 8 000 000) by PFSG as follows: 750 V/cm for 0 - 14 s, 166.7 V/cm for 14 - 31 s, 83.3 V/cm for 31 - 46 s, and 750 V/cm for 46 - 100 s. The cattle breeds were clearly distinguished within 45 s. The ME-PFSG method was 7 times and 5 times faster than the constant electric field ME method and the capillary electrophoresis- PFSG method, respectively, with a high resolving power (R_s = 5.05 - 9.98). The proposed methodology could be a powerful tool for the fast and simultaneous determination of SNP markers for various cattle breeds with high accuracy.