RAD Markers

Restriction site Associated DNA (RAD) marker technology, developed by Floragenex co-founder Dr. Eric Johnson at University of Oregon Institute for Molecular Biology, is a new and patent pending method for finding Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms in any organism.

RAD technology has been validated in both model organism (Drosophila melanogaster) and non-model organism (threespine stickleback - Gasterosteus aculeatus) research conducted in Dr. Johnson's lab. The results of this research have been published in the journal Genome Research.

The key benefits of RAD technology are:

• Low cost per informative marker - more data for less money.
  
• High throughput screening of large populations - more experiments in less time
  

Floragenex has developed multiplexing capabilities that allow processing of dozens of samples simultaneously, giving researchers flexibility in their experiment design, and leveraging the cost advantages of powerful sequencing technology.

When RAD markers are linked to a particular mutation, additional tools can used for more precise analysis of the location within the genome. Results of this approach, published in Genome Biology are available here.