DNA Fingerprinting and RFLP in Domestic Aniamals
Introduction
The analysis of restriction fragment length polymorphisms (RFLPs) is one of the most efficient means of monitoring genetic diversity in domestic animals. The first results of RFLPs in pigs, sheep and cattle were published in 1985(Chardon et al.,1985). Since then, the number of RFLPs described in domestic animals have increased considerably.
A higher degree of variability due to variable numbers of tandem repeats (VNTR) results in multiallelic RFLP patterns that can be seen in certain regions of repetitive DNA(Nakamura et al., 1987). When such banding patterns are specific to a defined DNA locus, they are called as single locus VNTRs. Several independent DNA loci share sequence homology, thereby enabling the demonstration of many highly polymorphic DNA loci simultaneously. Such multilocus VNTRs (called ‘DNA fingerprints’ due to the high individual specificity) were studied methodically and applied be Jeffrey and co-workers (Jeffreys et al., 1985 a, b, and 1986).
