Advances in molecular DNA sequencing

DNA sequencing

DNA sequencing includes several methods and technologies that are used for determining the order of the nucleotide bases—adenine, guanine, cytosine, and thymine—in a molecule of DNA....

 in some cases allow researchers to obtain high-quality DNA

DNA

Deoxyribonucleic acid is a nucleic acid that contains the genetic instructions used in the development and functioning of all known living organisms . The DNA segments that carry this genetic information are called genes, but other DNA sequences have structural purposes, or are involved in...

 samples from small quantities of hair, feathers, scales, or other body parts. These so-called noninvasive samples are an improvement over older allozyme

Allozyme

Variant forms of an enzyme that are coded by different alleles at the same locus are called allozymes. These are opposed to isozymes, which are enzymes that perform the same function, but which are coded by genes located at different loci....

and DNA sampling techniques that often required larger samples of tissue and blood or the destruction of the studied organism.