Polymers of arbitrary oligonucleotides can be used to detect polymorphic loci in a wide range of vertebrate genomes. Using 60 such probes, we previously reported the selection of the most efficient STR probes for polymorphism detection in the set of genomes investigated. We now report the use of this selection for the mouse genome and its contribution to genetic mapping. Twenty-three synthetic tandem repeats (STRs) sequences were probed on a recombinant inbred panel C57B1/6 x DBA/2. The loci detected are distributed in 70 linkage groups; 42 of these groups, corresponding to about 100 different polymorphic loci, include reference markers. These linkage groups appear to be evenly distributed within all the 20 mouse chromosomes with apparently no bias of repartition towards telomeres or centromeres.