DIRECT AMPLIFICATION OF LENGTH POLYMORPHISMS (DALP), OR HOW TO GET AND CHARACTERIZE NEW GENETIC-MARKERS IN MANY SPECIES

Direct amplification of length polymorphisms (DALP) uses an arbitraril y primed PCR (AP-PCR) to produce genomic fingerprints and to enable se quencing of DNA polymorphisms in virtually any species, Oligonucleotid e pairs were designed to each produce a specific multi-banded pattern and all the fragments thus generated can be directly sequenced with th e same two universal M13 sequencing primers, This strategy combines th e advantages of a high resolution fingerprint technique and the possib ility of characterizing the polymorphisms, The use of family members a s templates in the multi-locus detection step allows a direct test of allele transmission, as well as early mapping of the markers or select ion of loci associated with some traits or diseases, We used this meth od to detect micro-deletions/insertions and microsatellite DNA loci us eful in population genetics studies, but it could be applied in many o ther fields of biology, such as genome mapping for definition of polym orphic sequence tagged sites, directly localized on a genetic map.