WHATS IN THAT BAND

The analysis of molecular variation in parasites has important implica tions for studying gene function and organisation, taxonomy, phylogeny and population genetics. Polymerase chain reaction-based mutation sca nning methods can have significant advantages over some currently used DNA approaches for the analysis of allelic and mutational sequence va riation in parasites. The present report describes briefly the princip les of some of these methods, examines some of their advantages and di sadvantages, and indicates their potential for applications in parasit ology. (C) 1998 Australian Society for Parasitology. Published by Else vier Science Ltd.