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Ten years of AFLP in ecology and evolution: why so few animals?

Bensch, Staffan LU and Åkesson, Mikael LU (2005) In Molecular Ecology 14(10). p.2899-2914
Abstract
Researchers in the field of molecular ecology and evolution require versatile and low-cost genetic typing methods. The AFLP (amplified fragment length polymorphism) method was introduced 10 years ago and shows many features that fulfil these requirements. With good quality genomic DNA at hand, it is relatively easy to generate anonymous multilocus DNA profiles in most species and the start-up time before data can be generated is often less than a week. Built-in dynamic, yet simple modifications make it possible to find a protocol suitable to the genome size of the species and to screen thousands of loci in hundreds of individuals for a relatively low cost. Until now, the method has primarily been applied in studies of plants, bacteria and... (More)
Researchers in the field of molecular ecology and evolution require versatile and low-cost genetic typing methods. The AFLP (amplified fragment length polymorphism) method was introduced 10 years ago and shows many features that fulfil these requirements. With good quality genomic DNA at hand, it is relatively easy to generate anonymous multilocus DNA profiles in most species and the start-up time before data can be generated is often less than a week. Built-in dynamic, yet simple modifications make it possible to find a protocol suitable to the genome size of the species and to screen thousands of loci in hundreds of individuals for a relatively low cost. Until now, the method has primarily been applied in studies of plants, bacteria and fungi, with a strong bias towards economically important cultivated species and their pests. In this review we identify a number of research areas in the study of wild species of animals where the AFLP method, presently very much underused, should be a very valuable tool. These aspects include classical problems such as studies of population genetic structure and phylogenetic reconstructions, and also new challenges such as finding markers for genes governing adaptations in wild populations and modifications of the protocol that makes it possible to measure expression variation of multiple genes (cDNA-AFLP) and the distribution of DNA methylation. We hope this review will help molecular ecologists to identify when AFLP is likely to be superior to other more established methods, such as microsatellites, SNP (single nucleotide polymorphism) analyses and multigene DNA sequencing. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
in
Molecular Ecology
volume
14
issue
10
pages
2899 - 2914
publisher
Wiley-Blackwell
external identifiers
  • wos:000231223000001
  • pmid:16101761
  • scopus:26944462056
ISSN
0962-1083
DOI
10.1111/j.1365-294X.2005.02655.x
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
0b1f2cff-5a7a-4a5d-95b2-b7e967d1eab3 (old id 145164)
alternative location
http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-294X.2005.02655.x
date added to LUP
2016-04-01 12:32:46
date last changed
2022-03-29 02:19:11
@article{0b1f2cff-5a7a-4a5d-95b2-b7e967d1eab3,
  abstract     = {{Researchers in the field of molecular ecology and evolution require versatile and low-cost genetic typing methods. The AFLP (amplified fragment length polymorphism) method was introduced 10 years ago and shows many features that fulfil these requirements. With good quality genomic DNA at hand, it is relatively easy to generate anonymous multilocus DNA profiles in most species and the start-up time before data can be generated is often less than a week. Built-in dynamic, yet simple modifications make it possible to find a protocol suitable to the genome size of the species and to screen thousands of loci in hundreds of individuals for a relatively low cost. Until now, the method has primarily been applied in studies of plants, bacteria and fungi, with a strong bias towards economically important cultivated species and their pests. In this review we identify a number of research areas in the study of wild species of animals where the AFLP method, presently very much underused, should be a very valuable tool. These aspects include classical problems such as studies of population genetic structure and phylogenetic reconstructions, and also new challenges such as finding markers for genes governing adaptations in wild populations and modifications of the protocol that makes it possible to measure expression variation of multiple genes (cDNA-AFLP) and the distribution of DNA methylation. We hope this review will help molecular ecologists to identify when AFLP is likely to be superior to other more established methods, such as microsatellites, SNP (single nucleotide polymorphism) analyses and multigene DNA sequencing.}},
  author       = {{Bensch, Staffan and Åkesson, Mikael}},
  issn         = {{0962-1083}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{10}},
  pages        = {{2899--2914}},
  publisher    = {{Wiley-Blackwell}},
  series       = {{Molecular Ecology}},
  title        = {{Ten years of AFLP in ecology and evolution: why so few animals?}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-294X.2005.02655.x}},
  doi          = {{10.1111/j.1365-294X.2005.02655.x}},
  volume       = {{14}},
  year         = {{2005}},
}