Genetic markers

A genetic marker is a gene or DNA sequence with a known location on a chromosome that can be used to identify individuals or species. It can be described as a variation (which may arise due to mutation or alteration in the genomic loci) that can be observed. A genetic marker may be a short DNA sequence, such as a sequence surrounding a single base-pair change (single nucleotide polymorphism, SNP), or a long one, like minisatellites.

For many years, gene mapping was limited to identifying organisms by traditional genetic markers. This included genes that encode easily observable characteristics such as blood types or seed shapes. The insufficient number of these types of characteristics in several organisms limited the mapping efforts that could be done.

Some commonly used types of genetic markers are:

Molecular genetic markers can be divided into two classes a) biochemical markers which detect variation at the gene product level such as changes in proteins and amino acids and b) molecular markers which detect variation at the DNA level such as nucleotide changes: deletion, duplication, inversion and/or insertion. Markers can exhibit two modes of inheritance, i.e. dominant/recessive or co-dominant. If the genetic pattern of homozygotes can be distinguished from that of heterozygotes, then a marker is said to be co-dominant. Generally co-dominant markers are more informative than the dominant markers.

Genetic markers can be used to study the relationship between an inherited disease and its genetic cause (for example, a particular mutation of a gene that results in a defective protein). It is known that pieces of DNA that lie near each other on a chromosome tend to be inherited together. This property enables the use of a marker, which can then be used to determine the precise inheritance pattern of the gene that has not yet been exactly localized.

Genetic markers are employed in genealogical DNA testing for genetic genealogy to determine genetic distance between individuals or populations. Uniparental markers (on or Y chromosomal DNA) are studied for assessing maternal or paternal lineages. Autosomal markers are used for all ancestry.

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