Workshop overview: new molecular techniques in genome analysis.

An overview of the application of various molecular techniques to the analysis of genomic DNA is presented. For the analysis of small-scale changes, the polymerase chain reaction (PCR), colony probe hybridization, mismatch hybridization, and denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) are providing information on mutations within prokaryotic and eukaryotic genes. For large-scale changes, fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH), pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE), Southern blotting, multiplex PCR, hybridization of linked probes, and restriction enzyme mapping are permitting analysis of genomic alterations that are larger than point mutations but below the resolution of standard cytogenetic analysis. Many of these techniques, either alone or in combination, produce DNA that can be subjected to DNA sequence analysis, which provides the most detailed information regarding genomic changes.