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What DNA Can Do for You
Author(s) -
Wirgin Isaac I.,
Waldman John R.
Publication year - 1994
Publication title -
fisheries
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.725
H-Index - 79
eISSN - 1548-8446
pISSN - 0363-2415
DOI - 10.1577/1548-8446(1994)019<0016:wdcdfy>2.0.co;2
Subject(s) - mitochondrial dna , biology , evolutionary biology , nuclear dna , witness , computational biology , fishery , data science , genetics , computer science , political science , gene , law
Many problems in fisheries science require markers to discriminate among individuals, populations, or species and to monitor representatives of these groupings through time. The nucleotide sequences of DNA typically offer more than 3 billion potentially informative markers—many orders of magnitude more than alternative approaches. Molecular techniques, once tedious, have advanced so that rapidly analyzing the numerous samples typically required to resolve fisheries problems is now possible. To date, most molecular analyses in fisheries science have focused on analysis of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA), but newer approaches involving nuclear DNA (nDNA) show great promise. In particular, noncoding single copy nDNA may be more informative than mtDNA analyses for anadromous and marine species, in which low genetic diversity is frequently encountered. In this paper, we outline 12 categories of fisheries problems amenable to molecular approaches and provide a review of the structure and analysis of DNA, the nature of DNA variation in fishes, and the modes of analysis most suitable for particular questions. The future should witness the routine implementation of these techniques; such efforts would be enhanced by increased communication between managers and researchers, centralization of facilities, and standardization of nomenclature.