[Progress of the PCR amplification techniques for chromosome walking].

Various PCR-based methods are available for chromosome walking from a known sequence to an unknown region. It is promising in genome-related research for the following experiments: promoter cloning, obtaining non-conservative parts of genes in new species, identification of T-DNA or transposon insertion sites and filling in gaps or unknown chromosome regions in genome sequencing. These methods consisted of three types: inverse PCR, ligation-mediated PCR and specific primer PCR. In this review, we illustrated and compared the current techniques.