Chromosome walking is a method in genetics for identifying and sequencing long parts of a DNA strand, e.g., a chromosome. As long DNA strands cannot be sequenced, this method works by dividing the long sequence into several short ones. Basically, chromosome walking works as follows:
- A primer that matches the beginning of the DNA to sequence is used to synthesize a short DNA strand complementray to the unknown sequence, starting with the primer (see PCR).
- The new short DNA strand is sequenced.
- The end of the sequenced strand is used as a primer for the next part of the long DNA sequence.