Variations in the Lengths of DNA Fragments Produced by Restriction

Question

Variations in the lengths of DNA fragments produced by restriction enzyme digestion are known as:
A) RFLPs
B) ESTs
C) PCRs
D) VNTRs
E) STRs

Accepted Answer

RFLPs (Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphisms) are variations in the length of DNA fragments produced by restriction enzyme digestion. This variation can be caused by differences in the nucleotide sequence, such as single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) or insertions/deletions. RFLPs can be used as genetic markers for mapping genes and studying genetic variation in populations. ESTs (Expressed Sequence Tags) are short fragments of cDNA sequences that represent expressed genes, PCR (Polymerase Chain Reaction) is a technique used to amplify DNA sequences, VNTRs (Variable Number Tandem Repeats) and STRs (Short Tandem Repeats) are types of DNA polymorphisms based on the number of repeats of short DNA sequences.