AFLP reliable for study of evolution?

Sat Aug 21 08:52:05 CDT 1999

At 10:02 PM 20/08/1999 -0500, you wrote:
>I'm currently working on DNA-typing of plant.  In our laboratory, we use
>Amplified Fragment Length Polymorphism (AFLP), published by Vos et al.
>(1995).
>>From the literature and discussion with some friends, I found that the
>reliability of this technique is possibly questionable.  The main problem
>is the homology of the bands migrating at the same rate.  If the bands
>migrate at the same rate, they are assumed to have the same length and thus
>indicate similarity along evolutionary line.  I don't know much about
>evolution, but I have a few questions here.  Firstly, is two homologous DNA
>fragment necessarily the same product of evolution?  

The problem with such data (Any derived of RFLP), is stablish the homology,
there are several posibilities of convergence, or other kinds of homoplasy
that make the comparison dificult.

For some discussion:

Hilli DM, Moritz C, Mable B.  1996. Molecular Systematics. Sinauer
Associates. Canada.
>If selective force can
>produce homologous structures like the wings of butterfly and the wings of
>bird through convergent, I'm sure it can also do the same to DNA
>restriction fragment length from different evolutionary line.  Secondly, if
>the above question is not the main problem, are the bands that migrate at
>the same rate truly homologous?  All we can say for sure is that the first
>and last few nucleotides (primer sequence plus 3 selective nucleotides) are
>exactly the same.  how about those in the middle?
>I hope there's someone out there who can help me to clarify my doubt so
>that I can proceed with better condidence.  Your advise and recomendation
>will be much appreciated.
>
>
____________________________________________________
Puede encontrar mi clave PGP P?blica aqu?:
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Delphi/1834/pgp.html
____________________________________________________
Diego Mauricio Ria?o Pach?n
Estudiante de Biolog?a
Facultad de Ciencias
Universidad Nacional de Colombia
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Delphi/1834
e-mail:  driano at ciencias.ciencias.unal.edu.co
         mao9823 at softhome.net