Genotyping energy-transfer-cassette-labeled short-tandem-repeat amplicons with capillary array electrophoresis
I L Medintz1, L Berti, C A Emrich
1Department of Chemistry, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA.
Background:
Genetic analysis of microsatellite DNA is a powerful tool used in linkage analysis, gene mapping, and clinical diagnosis. To address the expanding needs of studies of short tandem repeats (STRs), we demonstrated high-performance STR analysis on a high-throughput microchannel plate-based platform.
Methods:
Energy-transfer-cassette-labeled STR amplicons were separated and typed on a microfabricated 96-channel radial capillary array electrophoresis (CAE) microchannel plate system. Four-color detection was accomplished with a laser-excited confocal fluorescence rotary scanner.
Results:
Multiplex STR analysis with single base-pair resolution was demonstrated on denaturing polyacrylamide gel media. The high-throughput multiplex capabilities of this genetic analysis platform were demonstrated by the simultaneous separation of STR amplicons representing 122 samples in ninety-six 5.5-cm-long channels in <8 min. Sizing values obtained for these amplicons on the CAE microchannel plate were comparable to those measured on a conventional commercial CAE instrument and exhibit <1% sizing variance.
Conclusions:
Energy-transfer-cassette labeling and microfabricated CAE microchannel plates allow high-performance multiplex STR analyses.
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