Taxonomy is fundamental to understanding the variety of life forms, and exciting expansions in molecular biology are re- volutionising the obtained data. This volume reviews the ma- jor molecular biological techniques that are applied in ta- xonomy. The chapters are arranged in three main sections:1) Overviews of important topics in molecular taxonomy; 2) Case studies of the successful application of molecular methods to taxonomic and evolutionary questions; 3) Protocols for a range of generally applicable methods. The described techni- ques include DNA-DNA hybridization, DNA fingerprinting, RFLP analysis, and PCR sequencing.

Inhalt

A Prologue.- Past and Future of Taxonomy.- Overviews.- Taxonomy: an Essential Key to Evolutionary Biology.- Variation at the DNA Level: Something for Everyone.- Molecular Systematics at the Species Boundary: Exploiting Conserved and Variable Regions of the Mitochondrial Genome of Animals via Direct Sequencing from Amplified DNA.- Ribosomal RNA Phylogenies.- Evaluating Gene Versus Genome Evolution.- DNA and Higher Plant Systematics: Some Examples From the Legumes.- DNA-DNA Hybridization: Principles and Results.- Satellite DNA.- DNA Fingerprinting.- The Statistical Interpretation of Hypervariable DNAs.- Case Studies.- A Multidimensional Approach to the Evolution and Systematics of Dolichopoda Cave Crickets.- Sperm and Evolution in Drosophila: Morphological and Molecular Aspects.- Episodic Evolutionary Change in Local Populations.- Searching for Speciation Genes in the Species Pair Drosophila Mojavensis and D. Arizonae.- Colonizing Species of Drosophila.- Molecular Taxonomy in the Control of West African Onchocerciasis.- Protocols.- DNA Protocols for Plants.- Prepartion and Visualization of Mitochondrial DNA for RFLP Analysis.- Hybridization of DNA Probes to Filterbound DNA Using the "DIG-DNA Labeling and Detection System Nonradioactive" (Boehringer Mannheim).- DNA Fingerprinting.- The Polymerase Chain Reaction: DNA Extraction and Amplification.- Protocols for 4-Cutter Blots and PCR Sequencing.- Ribosomal RNA Sequencing.- Quantitative DNA:DNA Hybridization and Hydroxyapatite Elution.- A Protocol for the TEACL Method of DNA-DNA Hybridization.- List of Participants.