Molecular techniques in the assessment of botanical diversity

A variety of different molecular techniques can be used for the study of botanical diversity. Restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP), arbitrary primed DNA, amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP), variable number of tandem repeats (VNTR), sequence-tagged simple sequence repeats (SSRs) and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) sequencing are briefly reviewed here. These techniques differ in the way that they resolve genetic differences, in the type of data that they generate and in the taxonomic levels at which they may be most appropriately applied. It is imperative to understand the different ways in which the data from the different molecular techniques can be utilized before embarking upon a programme of applying them to any particular diversity study. (C) 1996 Annals of Botany Company