[Prenatal diagnosis of genetic disorders by linkage analysis (author's transl)]

Most of the well-known monogenic disorders to date cannot be diagnosed prenatally. In principle, this problem can be overcome indirectly if the gene in question is linked to a cytogenetic, biochemical, or molecular polymorphism. In this respect, the last-mentioned will gain increasing importance in prenatal diagnosis in the near future. The problems of such linkage studies in X-linked, autosomal dominant, and recessive disorders are discussed. Prenatal diagnosis, monogenic disorders, linkage group analysis, chromosomal polymorphisms, DNA-sequence polymorphisms.