Skip to main content
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America logoLink to Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
. 1981 Oct;78(10):6329–6333. doi: 10.1073/pnas.78.10.6329

Estimating genetic divergence and genetic variability with restriction endonucleases.

W R Engels
PMCID: PMC349032  PMID: 6273864

Abstract

Restriction endonucleases cut DNA at specific sites determined by the local nucleotide sequence. By comparing related DNA segments with respect to where such cuts are made, one can estimate the extent of sequence homology between the segments. Empirical methods are presented here for using these data to measure the proportion of mismatches between two sequences, the proportion of polymorphic positions in a series of sequences, or the degree of heterozygosity in a population. These methods do not require any assumptions concerning the evolutionary or population genetic processes involved. One can also use the data to calculate the precision of each of these estimates. When the positions of the cuts are not determined, these estimates can be made, using only the lengths of the resulting DNA fragments, by means of a maximum likelihood procedure. Several examples demonstrate the usefulness of these methods to study genetic differences in regions of the genome not amenable to study by other methods.

Full text

PDF
6329

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Avise J. C., Giblin-Davidson C., Laerm J., Patton J. C., Lansman R. A. Mitochondrial DNA clones and matriarchal phylogeny within and among geographic populations of the pocket gopher, Geomys pinetis. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1979 Dec;76(12):6694–6698. doi: 10.1073/pnas.76.12.6694. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Botstein D., White R. L., Skolnick M., Davis R. W. Construction of a genetic linkage map in man using restriction fragment length polymorphisms. Am J Hum Genet. 1980 May;32(3):314–331. [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Brown W. M., George M., Jr, Wilson A. C. Rapid evolution of animal mitochondrial DNA. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1979 Apr;76(4):1967–1971. doi: 10.1073/pnas.76.4.1967. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Ewens W. J., Spielman R. S., Harris H. Estimation of genetic variation at the DNA level from restriction endonuclease data. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1981 Jun;78(6):3748–3750. doi: 10.1073/pnas.78.6.3748. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Jeffreys A. J. DNA sequence variants in the G gamma-, A gamma-, delta- and beta-globin genes of man. Cell. 1979 Sep;18(1):1–10. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(79)90348-9. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Nei M., Li W. H. Mathematical model for studying genetic variation in terms of restriction endonucleases. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1979 Oct;76(10):5269–5273. doi: 10.1073/pnas.76.10.5269. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Shah D. M., Langley C. H. Inter- and intraspecific variation in restriction maps of Drosophila mitochondrial DNAs. Nature. 1979 Oct 25;281(5733):696–699. doi: 10.1038/281696a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America are provided here courtesy of National Academy of Sciences

RESOURCES