title: A Standard Reference Material to determine the sensitivity of techniques for detecting low-frequency mutations, SNPs, and heteroplasmies in mitochondrial DNA.
abstract: Human mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) mutations are important for forensic identifications and mitochondrial disease diagnostics. Low-frequency mutations, heteroplasmies, or SNPs scattered throughout the DNA in the presence of a majority of mtDNA with the Cambridge Reference Sequence (CRS) are almost impossible to detect. Therefore, the National Institute of Science and Technology has developed heteroplasmic human mtDNA Standard Reference Material (SRM) 2394 to allow scientists to determine their sensitivity in detecting such differences. SRM 2394 is composed of mixtures ranging from 1/99 to 50/50 of two 285-bp PCR products from two cell lines that differ at one nucleotide position. Twelve laboratories using various mutation detection methods participated in a blind interlaboratory evaluation of a prototype of SRM 2394. Most of these procedures were unable to detect the mutation when present below 20%, an indication that, in many real-life cases, low-frequency mutations remain undetected and that more sensitive mutation detection techniques are urgently needed.
authors: Biotechnology Division, National Institute of Science and Technology, 100 Bureau Drive, MS 8311, Gaithersburg, MD 20899-8311, USA.
authors: Diane K
authors: DK
authors: Hancock
authors: Lois A
authors: LA
authors: Tully
authors: Barbara C
authors: BC
authors: Levin
mesh_terms: D002478:Cells, Cultured; D017931:DNA Primers; D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial / Q000032:analysis* / Q000235:genetics; D004591:Electrophoresis, Polyacrylamide Gel; D006801:Humans; D009154:Mutation / Q000235:genetics*; D009692:Nucleic Acid Heteroduplexes; D020135:Peptide Nucleic Acids / Q000032:analysis; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction / Q000379:methods; D020641:Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide / Q000235:genetics*; D012015:Reference Standards; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA
chemical_list: D017931:DNA Primers; D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial; D009692:Nucleic Acid Heteroduplexes; D020135:Peptide Nucleic Acids