Presents a practical laboratory-based manual of molecular protocols designed for the screening of biodiversity of plant and animal tissue. The book brings together the work of 35 European laboratories working under the EC biotechnology program. |The text covers DNA extraction, basic screening methods, sources of probes and primers, and data handling. Also included is a section on safety in the molecular lab, and a glossary of terms.
Part 1 DNA extraction: widely applicable methods; methods for difficult species/tissues; preserved specimens; extraction kits. Part 2 Basic screening methods: isozymes; restriction fragment length polymorphism; polymerase chain reaction; randomly amplified polymorphic DNAs; ADLP. Part 3 Sources of probes and primers: probes; primers; probes and primers for simple repeats. Part 4 Data handling: measuring genetic diversity; distance data; discrete data; distance data versus discrete data; molecules versus morphology. Part 5 Putting it into practice: accessions and collections; populations; classification; screening for "useful variation". Appendix: safety in the molecular laboratory.