African Journal of Biotechnology Vol. 5 (25), pp. 2540-2568, 29 December 2006   

ISSN 1684–5315 © 2006 Academic Journals        

Review

An overview of molecular marker methods for plants

K. Semagn¹*, Å. Bjørnstad² and M. N. Ndjiondjop¹

¹Africa Rice Center (WARDA), 01 BP 2031, Cotonou, Benin.

²Norwegian University of Life Sciences, Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences, P.O. Box 5003, N-1432, Ås, Norway.

*Corresponding Author’s E-mail: k.semagn@cgiar.org  or semagnk@yahoo.com ; Fax (229) 21350556; Tel (229)21350188.

Accepted 23 November, 2006

The development and use of molecular markers for the detection and exploitation of DNA polymorphism is one of the most significant developments in the field of molecular genetics. The presence of various types of molecular markers, and differences in their principles, methodologies, and applications require careful consideration in choosing one or more of such methods. No molecular markers are available yet that fulfill all requirements needed by researchers. According to the kind of study to be undertaken, one can choose among the variety of molecular techniques, each of which combines at least some desirable properties. This article provides detail review for 11 different molecular marker methods: restriction fragment length polymorphism  (RFLP), random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD), amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP), inter-simple sequence repeats (ISSRs), sequence characterized regions (SCARs), sequence tag sites (STSs), cleaved amplified polymorphic sequences (CAPS), microsatellites or simple sequence repeats (SSRs), expressed sequence tags (ESTs), single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), and diversity arrays technology (DArT).

Key words: AFLP, DArT, DNA markers, hybridization, ISSR, polymerase chain reaction, RAPD, RFLP, SNP, SSR.