Newbury back The production of user-friendly molecular markers for studying plants Descendents from a common ancestor accumulate differences in their DNA sequences. The pattern of these fragments may differ from one strain or species to another as a result of DNA sequence differences.
Molecular markers are typically fragments of DNA migrating in electrophoresis gels.
In most cases, the DNA fragments that are used as markers have no known function within the plant. Their value lies in the information that they give us about the organism from which they are derived. In other cases, a marker can help in the identification of an organism at one of several taxonomic levels. A multiplicity of techniques are available. Quite a range of different molecular marker types exist and it can take an expert in molecular techniques to understand how all the different methods work.