Introduction to Genetic Testing - Applications, Advantages and Disadvantages

Nowadays، the science of genetics and relevant issues have influenced various fields of science، particularly the fields of medical sciences (research and clinical field). Considering the high prevalence of hereditary and non- hereditary genetic disorders، especially in our country due to the relatively high prevalence of consanguineous marriages، application of genetic testing for diagnosis، treatment، prognosis، etc. is of considerable importance. However، evolution in the field of genetic testing is very fast and better introduction of different genetic tests can effectively help the scientific community to follow these extensive developments. In this paper، a brief introduction to different genetic tests based on their functional purposes will be provided. In the following، we will present a brief description of the processes، applications، advantages and disadvantages of some of the most commonly used genetic tests in both cytogenetics and molecular genetics fields. In the field of cytogenetics، karyotyping، flow cytometry، FISH، and CGH will be included and in the field of molecular genetics، PCR-based methods، multiplex PCR quantification such as MAPH / MLPA، microarrays and related technologies and next generation sequencing (NGS) will be discussed.