title: Duchenne muscular dystrophy: detection of deletion carriers by spectrophotometric densitometry.
abstract: DNA isolated from a family segregating a deletion in the Duchenne muscular dystrophy gene and control families was digested with restriction enzymes, Southern transferred, and probed with a radioactive dystrophin cDNA probe. The resulting autoradiographs were analyzed with a densitometric spectrophotometer to detect carriers of the deletion. The carrier status of females in the deletion pedigree was independently determined by genomic probes and confirmed by densitometry. In many Duchenne families, deletions will only be observed using cDNA probes which show few restriction fragment length polymorphisms (RFLPs). Such deletions would normally have to be detected using dosage gels. The spectrophotometric densitometry technique used by us does not require dosage gels, and avoids problems arising from non-informative meioses and cross-overs. It should be possible to screen every family with an exon deletion by spectrophotometric densitometry provided the presently available cDNA is suitably reduced to produce fewer bands on autoradiographs.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC.
authors.forename: N G
authors.initials: NG
authors.lastname: Laing
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Siddique
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Bartlett
authors.forename: L H
authors.initials: LH
authors.lastname: Yamaoka
authors.forename: W Y
authors.initials: WY
authors.lastname: Hung
authors.forename: M A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Pericak-Vance
authors.forename: A D
authors.initials: AD
authors.lastname: Roses
mesh_terms: D001345:Autoradiography; D002872:Chromosome Deletion; D004247:DNA / Q000032:analysis; D015342:DNA Probes; D003720:Densitometry / Q000379:methods; D005260:Female; D006579:Heterozygote; D008297:Male; D009136:Muscular Dystrophies / Q000235:genetics*; D010375:Pedigree; D013053:Spectrophotometry
chemical_list: D015342:DNA Probes; D004247:DNA