ABSTRACT
Thirty years ago, Ed Southern published a method that could be used to detect a particular sequence within a population of nucleic acids attached to a solid support, using a radiolabeled probe [30]. The Southern blot, as it became known, permitted measurement of a nucleic acid’s presence and relative abundance. Methods for the screening of clone libraries [10] and the gridding of libraries on filters allowed a larger-scale application of hybridization on filters. These technologies allowed one to detect molecules in a mixed population that hybridized to a single sequence.
