Wetton J H, Carter R E, Parkin D T, Walters D
Nature. 1987;327(6118):147-9. doi: 10.1038/327147a0.
Over the past twenty years, several techniques from biochemical and molecular genetics, such as enzyme electrophoresis and isoelectric focusing, have been widely and successfully applied to the study of population differentiation and evolution. However, they have been less applicable to demographic problems such as assigning parentage to individuals within a population. This stems from a general weakness of data derived from enzyme loci: allele frequencies at polymorphic loci are sufficiently skewed that the majority of individuals are of one or two genotypes. Many enzyme systems can only be examined post mortem, so that the loci are of little use if the animals are to be studied in the wild. The search for new and more sensitive techniques for detecting genetic variation has continued, and recently a major discovery has come from molecular biology. Jeffreys et al. have reported the detection of a type of hypervariable 'minisatellite' DNA that is extraordinarily polymorphic in human populations. We have applied their technique to several bird species and particularly to a population of house sparrows (Passer domesticus) near Nottingham. We report here that one of the human minisatellite clones is a suitable probe for sparrow DNA and that it reveals variation as extensive as that found in man. These results suggest that analysis of minisatellite DNA will be a powerful tool in the study of demographic population genetics.
在过去的二十年里，生化和分子遗传学的多种技术，如酶电泳和等电聚焦，已被广泛且成功地应用于种群分化和进化的研究。然而，它们在解决诸如确定种群内个体亲子关系等种群统计学问题方面的适用性较差。这源于酶基因座数据的一个普遍弱点：多态性基因座上的等位基因频率严重偏斜，以至于大多数个体只有一两种基因型。许多酶系统只能在死后进行检测，因此如果要在野外研究动物，这些基因座就没什么用了。对检测遗传变异的新的、更灵敏技术的探索一直在继续，最近分子生物学有了一项重大发现。杰弗里斯等人报告说，他们检测到了一种高度可变的“微卫星”DNA，这种DNA在人类种群中具有极高的多态性。我们已将他们的技术应用于几种鸟类，特别是诺丁汉附近的一群家麻雀（家麻雀）。我们在此报告，人类微卫星克隆之一是麻雀DNA的合适探针，并且它揭示的变异程度与在人类中发现的一样广泛。这些结果表明，微卫星DNA分析将成为种群统计学遗传学研究中的有力工具。
