title: Genetic screening using the colour change of a PNA-DNA hybrid-binding cyanine dye.
abstract: As the relationship between human genes and various malfunctions and diseases becomes revealed at an ever-increasing pace, the need arises for the development of rapid genetic screening methods for diagnostic purposes. Genetic diseases show great diversity. Some are caused by a few characteristic localised mutations, while others arise from a large number of variations. Hence, it is unlikely that a single, general diagnostic method that applies to all cases will ever exist. Instead, a combination of methods is frequently applied. Here we propose the use of a dramatic colour change that a cyanine dye, 3,3'-diethylthiadicarbocyanine, displays upon binding to DNA-PNA duplexes. This method could become an inexpensive, fast and simple genetic screening test by visual inspection, with no need for complicated equipment. Our results demonstrate that this diagnostic method may be sufficiently sensitive to discriminate between even a fully complementary and a single mutation DNA sequence.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physical Chemistry, Chalmers University of Technology, S-412 96 Gothenburg, Sweden.
authors.forename: L Marcus
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Wilhelmsson
authors.forename: Bengt
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Nordén
authors.forename: Kaushik
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Mukherjee
authors.forename: Maria T
authors.initials: MT
authors.lastname: Dulay
authors.forename: Richard N
authors.initials: RN
authors.lastname: Zare
mesh_terms: D001483:Base Sequence; D003116:Color; D003124:Colorimetry / Q000379:methods*; D004247:DNA / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D004252:DNA Mutational Analysis / Q000379:methods; D004225:Dithiazanine / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism*; D005456:Fluorescent Dyes / Q000378:metabolism; D005820:Genetic Testing / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D000432:Methanol; D009154:Mutation / Q000235:genetics; D009691:Nucleic Acid Denaturation; D009693:Nucleic Acid Hybridization; D020135:Peptide Nucleic Acids / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D013053:Spectrophotometry; D013696:Temperature; D013997:Time Factors
chemical_list: D005456:Fluorescent Dyes; D020135:Peptide Nucleic Acids; D004225:Dithiazanine; D004247:DNA; D000432:Methanol