Applications
RAPDs have been used for many purposes, ranging from studies at the individual level (e.g. genetic identity) to studies involving closely related species. RAPDs have also been applied in gene mapping studies to fill gaps not covered by other markers. Variants of the RAPD technique include Arbitrarily Primed Polymerase Chain Reaction (AP-PCR) which uses longer arbitrary primers than RAPDs, and DNA Amplification Fingerprinting (DAF) that uses shorter, 5-8 bp primers to generate a larger number of fragments. Multiple Arbitrary Amplicon Profiling (MAAP) is the collective term for techniques using single arbitrary primers.