NERI has established a laboratory aimed at developing and utilising molecular markers. This activity is done to support and supplement research on population genetic topics, e.g. survival of small populations in a fragmented environment (Afdeling for Vildtbiologi og Biodiversitet ), migration of individuals, and migration between populations.

Molecular markers can establish the genetic variability both on an individual and a population scale. If the variation is small, there is a risk that the survival capacity of the individual and the population is reduced, because the ability to adapt to environmental alterations is limited. If, furthermore, the population is small, the risk of inbreeding increases. The consequence is an additional decrease of viability. The survival capacity of a population exposed to stress is, in part, determined by the genetic variability of the population. Molecular markers may be used to assess the ability of a specific population to adapt to alterations in the environment. They can also be used to document the presence of unwanted plants in organic managed fields, e.g. genetically modified crops. Finally, this technique is used in the management of aqua-culture .

At present the laboratory conducts protein electrophoresis in the following media: starch, agarose, cellulose-acetate and polyacrylamid. Furthermore, isoelectric focusing and, to a limited extent, Western blotting is done. For DNA analyses the following methods are established: restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP), random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD), inter simple sequence repeats (ISSR), microsatellites or simple sequence repeats (SSR) and DNA sequencing.

Contact Vibeke Simonsen (vs@dmu.dk) or Liselotte Wesley Andersen (lwa@dmu.dk).