What is rflp analysis

To calculate the genetic distance between to loci, you need to be able to observe recombination. Traditionally, this was performed by observing phenotypes but with RFLP analysis, it is possible to measure the genetic distance between two RFLP loci whether they are a part of genes or not.

Let's look at a simple example in fruit flies. These loci are located on the same chromosome for the female left and the male right. The upper locus can produce two different bands called 1 and 3. The lower locus can produce bands called 2 or 4.

The male is homozygous for band 1 at the upper locus and 2 for the lower locus. The female is heterozygous at both loci. The male can only produce one type of gamete 1 and 2 but the female can produce four different gametes. Two of the possible four are called parental because they carry both RFLP bands from the same chromosome; 1 and 2 from the left chromosome or 3 and 4 from the right chromosome. The other two chromosomes are recombinant because recombination has occurred between the two loci and thus the RFLP bands are mixed so that 1 is now linked to 4 and 3 is linked to 2.

And that results in a polymorphism, or difference between those two people. We typically see these, or we monitor these, by isolating the DNA, cutting it with that bacterial restriction enzyme, and running it on a gel using electrophoresis. In one person, without the enzyme site you'll see one band, and the person that has the enzyme site, you'll see two bands, representing the two cleaved products.

So these differences in nucleic acid sequences and restriction enzyme binding sites just mean that there's a difference in the sequence between those two people.

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Theoretical and Applied Genetics — Mammalian Genome 6: — Genetics —