DNA fingerprinting in zoology: past, present, future

Abstract

In 1962, Thomas Kuhn famously argued that the progress of scientific knowledge results from periodic ‘paradigm shifts’ during a period of crisis in which new ideas dramatically change the status quo. Although this is generally true, Alec Jeffreys’ identification of hypervariable repeat motifs in the human beta-globin gene, and the subsequent development of a technology known now as ‘DNA fingerprinting’, also resulted in a dramatic shift in the life sciences, particularly in ecology, evolutionary biology, and forensics. The variation Jeffreys recognized has been used to identify individuals from tissue samples of not just humans, but also of many animal species. In addition, the technology has been used to determine the sex of individuals, as well as paternity/maternity and close kinship. We review a broad range of such studies involving a wide diversity of animal species. For individual researchers, Jeffreys’ invention resulted in many ecologists and evolutionary biologists being given the opportunity to develop skills in molecular biology to augment their whole organism focus. Few developments in science, even among the subsequent genome discoveries of the 21st century, have the same wide-reaching significance. Even the later development of PCR-based genotyping of individuals using microsatellite repeats sequences, and their use in determining multiple paternity, is conceptually rooted in Alec Jeffreys’ pioneering work.

Development and use of molecular markers: past and present

“…These limitations and dominance of PCR-based technologies in later years, together accounted for the discontinuation of RFLP markers, though it must be acknowledged that the foundation of a number of subsequent advancements in genomics, transcriptomics and even sophisticated molecular markers (e.g. microsatellites), were laid down in the form of RFLP and related markers of the same class (Chambers et al, 2014).…”

Genome-wide characterization of microsatellite DNA in fishes: survey and analysis of their abundance and frequency in genome-specific regions

“…Unique polymorphism of normal and disease-causing repeats can be used for disease diagnosis and prognosis [ 11 – 13 ]. Microsatellite repeats are advantageous as genetic markers due to their high polymorphism, informativeness and co-dominance, and have been used to construct quantitative trait loci (QTL) maps, genetic linkage maps [ 14 – 18 ] and DNA fingerprinting [ 19 ]. These features also provide the foundation for their successful application in other fundamental and applied fields of biology, including population and conservation genetics, genetic dissection of complex traits and marker-assisted breeding programs [ 10 , 20 – 22 ].…”

Development of Daphnia Magna SSR Markers and Genetic Diversity Analysis Based on RAD-Seq Technology

“…SSRs are currently one of the most commonly used microsatellite markers. Because of their large number, codominance, easy operation, stable results, high polymorphism, and strong reproducibility, they have been widely used in research on gene mapping, genetic map construction, ngerprint analysis, genetic relationship identi cation, and biodiversity assessment [13][14][15].…”