Rapid screening of DNA diversity using dot-blot technology and allele-specific oligonucleotides: maternity of hybrids and unisexual clones of hybrid origin (lizards, Cnemidophorus).

Allele-specific oligonucleotide probes, together with dot-blot methods, can provide rapid and inexpensive screening of DNA types in large samples of organisms. Here we demonstrate their use in: (1) determining types of mitochondrial DNA in hundreds of lizards from a dynamic hybrid zone; (2) discovering intraspecific geographic variation in genes; and (3) determining and verifying the maternal ancestry of unisexual, parthenogenetic lizards in clones of hybrid origin. These methods are broadly applicable in research involving rapid screening of DNAtypes in large samples of specimens for any gene with sequence data from which to design specific probes.