'Genotyping' refers to the process of determining the
genotype of an individual with a biological
assay. Current methods of doing this include
PCR,
DNA sequencing, and
hybridization to
DNA microarrays or beads. The technology is intrinsic for test on father-/motherhood and in clinical research for the investigation of disease-associated genes.
Due to current technological limitations, almost all genotyping is partial. That is, only a small fraction of an individual’s genotype is determined. New innovations, like the
Human-1 BeadChip developed by
Illumina promise to provide whole-genome genotyping in the future.
When testing for father-/motherhood, scientists typically only need to look at 10 or 20 genomic regions (like
Single nucleotide polymorphism (SNPs) to determine relationship or lack thereof. That is a tiny fraction of the human
genome, which consists of three billion or so
nucleotides.
When genotyping
transgenic organisms, a single genomic region may be all that scientists need to look at to determine the genotype. The
mouse is the mammalian model of choice for much of medical research today. A single
PCR assay is typically enough to genotype a transgenic
mouse. Companies that provide mouse genotyping services include
GeneTyper,
TransnetYX and
Mouse Genotype LLC.
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See also
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Mendelian error
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Quantitative trait locus
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SNP genotyping
External links
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International HapMap Project
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UCLA Genotyping Core