Why use SNPs?
SNPs are one of many possible genetic markers. Available types of genetic markers include isozymes, RFLPs, RAPDs, CAPS, PCR-indels, AFLPs, microsatellites (SSRs), SNPs and DNA sequence. Each type of marker has its advantages and disadvantages. The main advantages of SNPs are: (1) they are so common and evenly-distributed in the genome, and (2) methods of detecting (or “assaying”) SNPs can be easily automated. This ease of automation is what makes SNPs “high-throughput” markers. High-throughput means that large numbers of markers can be quickly assayed in a large number of DNA samples for a small cost per assay. This property is essential in the current genomics age. The main disadvantage of SNPs is the small number of alleles typically present. Although, in theory, each SNP marker can have up to four possible alleles (A, C, G, and T), in practice, only two alleles usually are present at any given SNP (e.g., C or T). This is a consequence of the low rate of mutation or base substitution
Related Questions
- Every time I search for STS markers in dbSNP, dbSNP returns a screen that says that no SNPs were found in my region of interest. What am I doing wrong?
- How I match SNP names from the Seattle SNPs database (e.g. a Seattle SNPs named UI1498 in the IL10 gene) to dbSNP rs numbers in dbSNP?
- How many SNPs can be included in an iSelect Infinium Custom Genotyping project?
