Microsatellite data from various African buffalo (Syncerus caffer) populations throughout Africa

1280 African buffalo (Syncerus caffer) samples genotyped with up to 19 microsatellites. 1275 samples are from East (12 populations) and southern Africa (4 populations). 5 samples are from central Africa (2 populations).

Methods
Dataset consists of previously published genotypes from four different laboratories, using microsatellites originally developed for cattle (Bos taurus) and randomly chosen with respect to genomic location (microsatellite sets A, B, C and E). For various populations, microsatellite sets from two different laboratories were available, which permitted allele alignment by matching (allele size shift) each microsatellite's allele frequencies while preserving size order. Aligning microsatellite alleles from different laboratories based on frequency information is a valid standardization method when data sets are reasonably large and coming from the same population.

1280份非洲水牛（Syncerus caffer）样本通过至多19个微卫星（microsatellite）完成基因分型。其中1275份样本采自东非（12个种群）与南非（4个种群），剩余5份样本采自中非（2个种群）。

方法
本数据集包含来自4个不同实验室的已发表基因分型数据，所用微卫星最初为牛（Bos taurus）开发，且在基因组位置上随机选取，分为微卫星组A、B、C及E。针对部分种群，存在来自两个不同实验室的微卫星组数据，可通过匹配各微卫星的等位基因频率（同时保留片段大小顺序）校正等位基因的长度偏移，以此实现等位基因比对。当数据集规模足够且来源为同一群体时，基于频率信息对不同实验室的微卫星等位基因进行比对，是一种可靠的标准化方法。