title: Rapid and enhanced detection of mitochondrial DNA variation using single-strand conformation analysis of superposed restriction enzyme fragments from polymerase chain reaction-amplified products.
abstract: A strategy is described for detecting mitochondrial (mt) DNA variation which permits rapid and straightforward screening for forensic purposes. The method is based on the selection of fragments with adequate length for performing single strand conformation polymorphism (SSCP) analysis selecting a set of restriction enzymes (RE) which yield fragments with prefixed lengths. After digestion of mtDNA by the appropriate enzyme or set of enzymes, SSCP analysis is performed in a semiautomatic electrophoretic system using a silver staining detection method. The conformational changes due to single mutations were therefore found not to change the electrophoretic protocol but to change the relative position of the mutations within the fragment. The discrimination power of this method is estimated to be 90% when two restriction enzymes (MspI and HinfI) are used, but it is considerably higher when other enzymes are added.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Legal Medicine, School of Medicine, Santiago de Compostela, Spain.
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Barros
authors.forename: M V
authors.initials: MV
authors.lastname: Lareu
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Salas
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Carracedo
mesh_terms: D004252:DNA Mutational Analysis; D004262:DNA Restriction Enzymes / Q000378:metabolism*; D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial / Q000097:blood*; D019003:Deoxyribonuclease HpaII / Q000378:metabolism; D015252:Deoxyribonucleases, Type II Site-Specific / Q000378:metabolism; D004591:Electrophoresis, Polyacrylamide Gel; D006801:Humans; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D018807:Polymorphism, Single-Stranded Conformational; D016622:Silver Staining
chemical_list: D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial; D004262:DNA Restriction Enzymes; D019003:Deoxyribonuclease HpaII; D015252:Deoxyribonucleases, Type II Site-Specific; C032229:GANTC-specific type II deoxyribonucleases