title: An enhanced single base extension technique for the analysis of complex viral populations.
abstract: Many techniques for the study of complex populations provide either specific information on a small number of variants or general information on the entire population. Here we describe a powerful new technique for elucidating mutation frequencies at each genomic position in a complex population. This single base extension (SBE) based microarray platform was designed and optimized using poliovirus as the target genotype, but can be easily adapted to assay populations derived from any organism. The sensitivity of the method was demonstrated by accurate and consistent readouts from a controlled population of mutant genotypes. We subsequently deployed the technique to investigate the effects of the nucleotide analog ribavirin on a typical poliovirus population through two rounds of passage. Our results show that this economical platform can be used to investigate dynamic changes occurring at frequencies below 1% within a complex nucleic acid population. Given that many key aspects of the study and treatment of disease are intimately linked to population-level genomic diversity, our SBE-based technique provides a scalable and cost-effective complement to both traditional and next generation sequencing methodologies.
authors.affiliation: Biological and Medical Informatics Program, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, California, United States of America.
authors.forename: Dale R
authors.initials: DR
authors.lastname: Webster
authors.forename: Armin G
authors.initials: AG
authors.lastname: Hekele
authors.forename: Adam S
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: Lauring
authors.forename: Kael F
authors.initials: KF
authors.lastname: Fischer
authors.forename: Hao
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Raul
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Andino
authors.forename: Joseph L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: DeRisi
mesh_terms: D004279:DNA, Viral / Q000235:genetics*; D005814:Genes, Viral; D005821:Genetic Techniques; D014644:Genetic Variation; D023281:Genomics; D005838:Genotype; D006367:HeLa Cells; D006801:Humans; D015233:Models, Statistical; D009693:Nucleic Acid Hybridization; D009711:Nucleotides / Q000737:chemistry; D020411:Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis; D017955:Poliovirus / Q000235:genetics; D012254:Ribavirin / Q000737:chemistry; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA / Q000191:economics / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods*
chemical_list: D004279:DNA, Viral; D009711:Nucleotides; D012254:Ribavirin