FUTURISTIC TRENDS IN THE AUTHENTICATION AND EVALUATION OF PLANTS

Abstract

Alec Jeffreys' papers on the application of minisatellite probes for human DNA fingerprinting were published almost three decades ago. Methodologies have rapidly evolved and diversified since those early days. Many different techniques have been created, improved upon, and then finally discarded as newer, more effective, and/or more reliable solutions emerged. While Southern blot hybridization and restriction fragment analysis dominated the initial stages of DNA fingerprinting, the invention of the PCR in the late 1980s paved the way for the creation of single- or multi-locus profiling techniques based on PCR. Plant DNA fingerprinting routines still frequently use PCR-based markers. Now, high-speed DNA sequencing was used for DNA fingerprinting in plants, either indirectly through the facilitation of marker development or directly through "genotyping-by-sequencing". Proper identification of plant species belonging to related taxa and finding their relatedness is necessary for the botanical world. DNA fingerprinting plays a crucial role in the authentication of plant specimens as it overcomes almost all of the limitations of traditional genotyping methods. In this chapter we aim to explain various molecular marker tools along with their advantages and disadvantages