Mutational spectrometry without phenotypic selection: human mitochondrial DNA
By first separating mutant from nonmutant DNA sequences on the basis of their melting temperatures and then increasing the number of copies by high-fidelity DNA amplification, we have developed a method that allows observation of point mutations in biological samples at fractions at or above 10−6. U...
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Published in | Nucleic acids research Vol. 25; no. 4; pp. 685 - 693 |
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Main Authors | , , , , , , , |
Format | Journal Article |
Language | English |
Published |
England
Oxford University Press
15.02.1997
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Subjects | |
Online Access | Get full text |
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Summary: | By first separating mutant from nonmutant DNA sequences on the basis of their melting temperatures and then increasing the number of copies by high-fidelity DNA amplification, we have developed a method that allows observation of point mutations in biological samples at fractions at or above 10−6. Using this method, we have observed the hotspot point mutations that lie in 100 base pairs of the mitochondrial genome in samples of cultured cells and human tissues. To date, 19 mutants have been isolated, their fractions ranging from 4 × 10−4 down to the limit of detection. We performed specific tests to determine if the observed signals were artefacts arising from contamination, polymerase errors during PCR or DNA adducts created during the procedure. We also tested the possibilities that DNA replication mismatch intermediates, or endogenous DNA adducts that were originally present in the cells, were included with true mutants in our separation steps and converted to mutants during PCR. We show that while most of the mutants behave as double-stranded point mutants in the cells, some appear to arise at least in part from mismatch intermediates or cellular DNA adducts. This technology is therefore sufficient for the observation of the spectrum of point mutations in human mitochondrial DNA and is a tool for discovering the primary causes of these mutations. |
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Bibliography: | istex:B0EF0294B14DA8C5CE21E85F21F0F4EC836BF868 ark:/67375/HXZ-T3NH37X6-L ObjectType-Article-2 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-1 content type line 23 ObjectType-Article-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 |
ISSN: | 0305-1048 1362-4962 |
DOI: | 10.1093/nar/25.4.685 |