ABSTRACT
The technique of amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) was introduced in 1993. Its principle is the selective amplification of restriction fragments generated from a sample of genomic DNA. This technique makes it possible to look for restriction fragment length polymorphism at the level of DNA. It is used for example to identify species, analyse pedigree, or search for genetic markers linked to a character. It is also used to identify genes expressed in a differential manner. In this case, the AFLP analyses are carried out on complementary DNA (cDNA) synthesized from messenger RNA (mRNA). This technique, called AFLP-cDNA, makes it possible to visualize sub-populations of mRNA indirectly and compare them with one another (see Profile 17).
