Diagnosis of human genetic mutations based on DNA microarray technology

In this presentation, we will discuss several recent achievements developed in my laboratory for microarray-based diagnosis of human genetic mutations including HNF-1 and BRCA1 mutations. To determine the presence of the genetic mutations in a human sample, we prepared allele-specific oligonucleotide chips from selected mutation sites and generated target probes using a tow-step method for Cy-3 DNA $samples^{1)}$ or in vitro transcription of promoter-tagged PCR products for Cy-3 RNA $samples^{2)}$. Hybridization of the target probes to the chips successfully identified all of the genotypes for the tested sites. For more reliable diagnosis, we also employed single base extension (SBE) reaction and zip-code microarray technique for our strategy. Particularly we developed an efficient PNA zip-code microarray for the detection of $HNF-1{\alpha}$ $mutations^{3)}$. Using multiplex SBE reactions and zip-code strategy, we were able to correctly diagnose several mutation sites in exon 2 of $HNF-1{\alpha}$ with a wild-type and mutant including a MODY3 patient. These works represent successful applications of DNA microarray technology for the diagnosis of human genetic mutations.