This looks interesting. Should make those SNP libraries more useful.
Jason
-------------------------------------------
UNC Chemists Use Electrical Currents to Detect Deletions
9/9/99 Chemists working at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC)
have developed a new method for detecting single nucleotide polymorphisms,
genetic mutations responsible for such medical conditions as cystic fibrosis and
cancer.
The new method could potentially allow scientists to
screen for mutations in human, animal, plant, or viral DNA,
according to UNC's Holden Thorp, lead author of the paper.
Comparable techniques currently available for screening
genes are labor intensive and are therefore slow and
expensive.
Patricia A Ropp, postdoctoral research associate in
pharmacology at the UNC School of Medicine, and Thorp,
professor of chemistry, have developed the new method. In
a paper published in the August issue of the journal
Chemistry and Biology, the two describe it.
The two researchers have shown that electron transfer from nucleotides to a
bound metal complex can be measured accurately from small quantities of
material, such as synthetic oligomers or biological samples. Furthermore, the
rate of such reactions are sensitive to single-base mismatches in DNA and hence
can be used to detect genetic changes.
"Our method uses inexpensive electronic equipment without cumbersome
procedures," Thorp said. "It is based on the measurement of different but very
small electrical currents generated when guanine is paired with its correct DNA
chemical partner versus an incorrect chemical partner."
With the new technique, he and Ropp can detect specific mutations associated
with specific diseases, such as the TTP deletion responsible for cystic fibrosis.
"As we can continue to make these kinds of advances, we'll eventually have a
device that can be used to do these analyses routinely so that they will impact
people's everyday lives," Thorp said. "It's very exciting."
The National Science Foundation supported the research along with Xanthon Inc.,
a company formed in 1996 by Thorn, Jim Skinner, and Carson Loomis. Xanthon
has licensed rights to the invention from the university.
Xanthon's early products will be introduced in late 2000 and will use the new
approach to analyze gene expression in whole cells, said Thorp.
For more information: Holden Thorp, Department of Chemistry, University of North
Carolina, A400 Kennan, Chapel Hill, NC 27599. Tel: 919-962-0276. Email:
holden@unc.edu. |
