The cleaved amplified polymorphic sequence (CAPS) method is a technique in

molecular biology Molecular biology is the branch of biology that seeks to understand the molecular basis of biological activity in and between cells, including biomolecular synthesis, modification, mechanisms, and interactions. The study of chemical and physi ...

for the analysis of

genetic marker A genetic marker is a gene or DNA sequence with a known location on a chromosome that can be used to identify individuals or species. It can be described as a variation (which may arise due to mutation or alteration in the genomic loci) that can be ...

s. It is an extension to the restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) method, using

polymerase chain reaction The polymerase chain reaction (PCR) is a method widely used to rapidly make millions to billions of copies (complete or partial) of a specific DNA sample, allowing scientists to take a very small sample of DNA and amplify it (or a part of it) t ...

(PCR) to more quickly analyse the results. Like RFLP, CAPS works on the principle that genetic differences between individuals can create or abolish

restriction endonuclease A restriction enzyme, restriction endonuclease, REase, ENase or'' restrictase '' is an enzyme that cleaves DNA into fragments at or near specific recognition sites within molecules known as restriction sites. Restriction enzymes are one class o ...

restriction sites, and that these differences can be detected in the resulting DNA fragment length after digestion. In the CAPS method, PCR amplification is directed across the altered restriction site, and the products digested with the restriction enzyme. When fractionated by

agarose Agarose is a heteropolysaccharide, generally extracted from certain red seaweed. It is a linear polymer made up of the repeating unit of agarobiose, which is a disaccharide made up of D-galactose and 3,6-anhydro-L-galactopyranose. Agarose is o ...

polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis Polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (PAGE) is a technique widely used in biochemistry, forensic chemistry, genetics, molecular biology and biotechnology to separate biological macromolecules, usually proteins or nucleic acids, according to their ...

, the digested PCR products will give readily distinguishable patterns of bands. Alternatively, the amplified segment can be analyzed by

allele-specific oligonucleotide An allele-specific oligonucleotide (ASO) is a short piece of synthetic DNA complementary to the sequence of a variable target DNA. It acts as a probe for the presence of the target in a Southern blot assay or, more commonly, in the simpler Dot bl ...

(ASO) probes, a process that can often be done by a simple

dot blot A dot blot (or slot blot) is a technique in molecular biology used to detect proteins. It represents a simplification of the western blot method, with the exception that the proteins to be detected are not first separated by electrophoresis. Instea ...

References

External links

* https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/projects/genome/probe/doc/TechCAPS.shtml DNA profiling techniques Molecular biology {{molecular-cell-biology-stub

See also

References

External links