Department of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15261, USA.
J Phys Chem B. 2010 Jan 21;114(2):1064-8. doi: 10.1021/jp909501h.
We report a rapid gene mutation screening method by making use of the mechanical properties of single-strand DNA (ssDNA) tethered to a solid surface. With proper temperature control, ssDNA in solution undergoes intrabase pairing and forms a specific complex 3D structure. By tethering such ssDNA strands to a solid surface, a DNA film can be formed. The mechanical properties of such DNA films, probed by devices such as a quartz crystal resonator, are directly related to the specific structure of the ssDNA which is characteristic of its base sequence and thus can be used as the basis for mutation screening. Using this approach, we have detected a single base mutation among 545 bases in the P53 gene. This result suggests promising potential of employing the mechanical properties of DNA strands for rapid screening of mutations.
我们报告了一种快速的基因突变筛选方法，该方法利用了单链 DNA（ssDNA）与固体表面连接的机械性能。通过适当的温度控制，溶液中的 ssDNA 会进行碱基内配对，并形成特定的 3D 结构。通过将这些 ssDNA 链固定在固体表面上，可以形成 DNA 膜。通过石英晶体谐振器等设备探测这种 DNA 膜的机械性能，与 ssDNA 的特定结构直接相关，而这种结构是由其碱基序列决定的，因此可以用作突变筛选的基础。使用这种方法，我们在 P53 基因的 545 个碱基中检测到了一个碱基突变。这一结果表明，利用 DNA 链的机械性能进行快速突变筛选具有很大的潜力。
