ABSTRACT
Electrophoresis is performed in a gel made from a polymer in electrolyte buffer. The application of electrophoresis to the study of genetic variation in populations of Drosophila opened the way to the investigation of hundreds of animal and plant species, which revealed large and previously unsuspected amounts of genetic variation in populations. In the last two decades of the 20th century, the improvement of molecular methods opened the way to studies of molecular evolution and phylogeny, with ramifications into medicine, police forensic work, classification and taxonomy, ecology and conservation of endangered species. When two or more DNA sequences are compared, differences between them due to point mutations can be detected. The Polymerase Chain Reaction method is very useful for studies of molecular phylogeny, because even minute samples of DNA from preserved museum specimens or from archeological and palaeontological finds, can provide sufficient material for analysis.
