Capillary electrophoresis: new technology for DNA diagnostics.
New innovations in the diagnostic laboratory achieve their full potential when they can be automated. Increasingly molecular biology (DNA) techniques are being utilised in traditional pathology disciplines, as well as the more recent ones of cytogenetics and molecular genetics. Molecular biology was first exploited for diagnostic purposes when Southern blotting became established. However the time-consuming nature of the methodology, as well as the skills required, made it difficult for Southern blotting to be used routinely in the service laboratory. Subsequently the invention of PCR facilitated the approach to DNA diagnostics. Today PCR in commercial or home-made kits is used for a range of procedures. The steps required to amplify DNA with PCR can also be fully automated. However the analysis of PCR products, which frequently requires slab gel electrophoresis and toxic chemicals or radioisotopes for visualisation, remains difficult to automate. An alternative way for analysing PCR products is now available through capillary electrophoresis. With this technique, automation can be extended to sample loading, electrophoresis and data analysis. The use of toxic chemicals or radioisotopes can be avoided.
Department of Molecular and Clinical Genetics, Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
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D002874:Chromosome Mapping; D004247:DNA / Q000032:analysis*; D004252:DNA Mutational Analysis / Q000379:methods; D019075:Electrophoresis, Capillary / Q000191:economics / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D008040:Genetic Linkage; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D018895:Microsatellite Repeats / Q000235:genetics; D017354:Point Mutation; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction
D004247:DNA