Recent and future advances in population genetics will have a significant impact on health care practices and the economics of health care provision only if a spectrum of patient-tailored, effective methods of DNA screening for sequence alterations has been developed. Genetic screening by capillary electrophoresis-single strand conformation polymorphism (CE-SSCP), which is based upon the differ...

Single-strand-conformation polymorphism (SSCP) of DNA, a method widely used in mutation analysis, was adapted to the analysis and differentiation of cultivated pure-culture soil microorganisms and noncultivated rhizosphere microbial communities. A fragment (approximately 400 bp) of the bacterial 16S rRNA gene (V-4 and V-5 regions) was amplified by PCR with universal primers, with one primer pho...

We present the first optimization of linear polyacrylamide (LPA)-based DNA separation matrixes for an automated tandem microchannel single-strand conformation polymorphism (SSCP)/heteroduplex analysis (HA) method, implemented in capillary arrays dynamically coated with poly(N-hydroxyethylacrylamide) (polyDuramide). An optimized protocol for sample preparation allowed both SSCP and HA species to...

To assess genetic variation in hepatitis C virus (HCV) sequences accurately, we optimized a method for identifying distinct viral clones without determining the nucleotide sequence of each clone. Twelve serum samples were obtained from seven individuals soon after they acquired HCV during a prospective study, and a 452-bp fragment from the E2 region was amplified by reverse transcriptase PCR an...

hearing loss (hl) is the most frequent sensory defect affecting 1 in 1000 neonates. this can occur due to genetic or environmental causes or both. the genetic causes are very heterogenous and over 100 loci have been identified to cause autosomal recessive non - syndromic hearing loss (arnshl). the aim of this study was to determine the contribution of the lrtomt gene mutations in causing arnshl...

Variegate porphyria is an autosomal dominant disorder of heme metabolism which results from decreased activity of the enzyme protoporphyrinogen oxidase. Clinically, the disease manifests postpubertally and is characterized by photocutaneous sensitivity and/or acute neurovisceral crises. However, in homozygous variegate porphyria, onset of the disease usually occurs in infancy with severe skin m...

Several reports from laboratories involved in the isolation of the BRCA1 gene, and recently in the search for its mutations (1–5), show that the latter activity is not a simple task. Every fragment of coding sequence of this multi-exon gene has to be analysed as sequence variations may occur anywhere (6). Let us consider then some technical problems related to wide-scale screening of large gene...

Hearing loss (HL) is the most frequent sensory defect affecting 1 in 1000 neonates. This can occur due to genetic or environmental causes or both. The genetic causes are very heterogenous and over 100 loci have been identified to cause autosomal recessive non - syndromic hearing loss (ARNSHL). The aim of this study was to determine the contribution of the LRTOMT gene mutations in causing ARNSHL...

The recent achievement of the human genome project has led to the identification of many disease genes in common hereditary conditions, in which patients and their relatives would benefit from genetic diagnosis. This has increased the need for simple, sensitive, and cost effective methods of mutation analysis. However, the “gold standard” of mutation analysis, direct sequencing, is still an exp...