SNP genotyping by combination of 192-well MADGE, ARMS and computerized gel image analysis

A new modification of the microplate array diagonal gel electrophoresis (MADGE) system accommodates the dual amplification refractory mutation system (ARMS) products of 96 samples on one 192-well gel. Simultaneous electrophoresis of a number of horizontal ARMS-MADGE gels achieves high throughput. Gels are imaged digitally, here using the FluorImager 595 fluorescent scanning system. Customized software by Phoretix enables rapid computerized calling of band patterns in ARMS-MADGE arrays, in which the two wells receiving a pair of allele-specific assays for a single template are juxtaposed to form one virtual track, with genotype data exported directly into Microsoft Excel for statistical analysis. An ARMS assay of the A/T base change at the -23/HphI RFLP in the insulin gene promoter, which initiates from 2.5 ng template DNA, was used here to demonstrate this improved general approach for population SNP analyses.