Analysis of Salmonella typhimurium hisD3052 revertants: the use of oligodeoxyribonucleotide colony hybridization, PCR, and direct sequencing in mutational analysis.

A rapid method for determining the DNA sequences of Salmonella typhimurium hisD3052 revertants is presented. DNA colony hybridization was used to analyze revertants previously studied by Isono and Yourno [Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 71:1612-1617, 1974]. Synthetic oligodeoxyribonucleotide probes (18-mers) were able to distinguish sequences that differed by a single base pair. Mutant his sequences not identified by probing analysis were amplified using polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and directly sequenced. The combined use of DNA-colony hybridization and direct sequencing offers a precise and rapid means for the molecular characterization of hisD3052 revertants.