Reproducible DNA fingerprinting with the random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) method.

Much interest has recently arisen in methods for DNA fingerprinting based on the polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Among these, the Random Amplified Polymorphic DNA (RAPD) method, developed by Williams eta]. (1), is currently receiving particular attention (2) because of its extreme simplicity and requirement for minimal amounts of genomic DNA. The basic strategy involves the PCR amplification of random fragments of genomic DNA with single or multiple (3) primers of arbitrary sequence. Polymorphism between individuals (or strains) is detected as differences between the pattern of DNA fragments amplified from the different DNAs using a given primer(s)