AFLP fingerprinting for assessing intraspecific variation and genome mapping in mites

Molecular genetic techniques have come a long way in the last decade. With the advent of PCR, genetic markers are now accessible for all organisms, in cluding mites. However, there is usually a trade-off between the accuracy o f the molecular technique or genetic marker and expediency. In mites, many molecular techniques are not applicable due to their small size. Here we de scribe a relatively new molecular fingerprinting technique, amplified fragm ent length polymorphism (AFLP), which is currently used widely in plant gen omic research. We outline the AFLP procedure adapted for mites, show result s using this technique from our own research and discuss the benefits and l imitations of AFLPs for assessing genetic variation and for genome mapping. It is our intention to highlight the possible use of AFLPs as genetic mark ers with a broad application in acarological research.