Arbitrarily amplified DNA

Arbitrarily amplified DNA (AAD) refers to a family of DNA profiling methods that amplify template nucleic acids with arbitrary oligonucleotide primers using the polymerase chain reaction (PCR). AAD includes the first methodologies introduced in the very early 1990s within a span of only few months: random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD), arbitrarily primed PCR (AP-PCR), and DNA amplification fingerprinting (DAF). These techniques were initially used for genetic typing, strain discrimination, genome mapping, phylogenetic analysis, and population analysis, in that sequence, and their subsequent use over the following decades continue to influence many areas of research. Several variants were introduced in the first years after their development (see early listings), one of which–amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP)–became widely adopted.