title: Artifactual variation in randomly amplified polymorphic DNA banding patterns.
abstract: Randomly amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) and arbitrarily primed PCR (AP-PCR) represent novel DNA polymorphism assays that involve the amplification of random DNA segments using PCR and oligonucleotide primers of arbitrary sequence. Products defining the polymorphisms exhibit Mendelian inheritance and thus possess tremendous potential utility as genetic markers in a diverse array of scientific disciplines. Amplification profiles for specific oligonucleotide primers are highly dependent on the specific conditions of the reaction; banding patterns may thus vary extensively because of inconsistencies in a number of reaction parameters. Artifactual variation represents a potential problem in surveys of genetic variation in natural populations and must be discriminated from true polymorphism for the applications of RAPD to be both accurate and reliable.
authors.affiliation: Department of Wildlife & Fisheries Sciences, Texas A&M University, College Station 77843.
authors.forename: D L
authors.initials: DL
authors.lastname: Ellsworth
authors.forename: K D
authors.initials: KD
authors.lastname: Rittenhouse
authors.forename: R L
authors.initials: RL
authors.lastname: Honeycutt
mesh_terms: D001483:Base Sequence; D004247:DNA / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics*; D005189:False Positive Reactions; D008274:Magnesium / Q000494:pharmacology; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D011110:Polymorphism, Genetic; D013696:Temperature
chemical_list: D004247:DNA; D008274:Magnesium