Research notes: Fresh and frozen pools of chicken red blood cells as substrates for direct polymerase chain reaction.

A method is presented for reliable use of pooled chicken blood samples for estimation of microsatellite frequencies by direct polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification of DNA. This method overcomes the variability of hematocrit values in individual chickens and eliminates the step of DNA preparation. The estimated frequencies of polymorphic alleles in fresh and frozen pooled blood samples were similar to those obtained by calculating these frequencies from the individual genotyping. When frozen pooled blood samples are used, pools should be prepared prior to their freezing.