ABSTRACT

In this chapter we present a survey of the various applications of polymerase chain reaction (PCR) -based DNA fingerprinting, especially in the fields of genotype identification, population genetics, plant systematics, and phylogeography. Because of space limitations, only a few representative examples can be portrayed from each field of applications. For a closer description of the laboratory procedures, see Chapter 4. For statistical evaluation of DNA fingerprints and calculations, see Chapter 5. Linkage analysis and genetic mapping are treated in Chapter 7, and the most commonly used DNA profiling methods are compared in Chapter 8.