Mismatch-targeted transposition of Mu: a new strategy to map genetic polymorphism

Phage Mu DNA transposes to duplex target DNA sites with limited sequence specificity. Here we demonstrate that Mu transposition exhibits a strong target site preference for all single-nucleotide mismatches. This finding has implications for the mechanism of transposition and provides a powerful tool for genomic research. A single mismatch could be detected as a preferred target of Mu transposition in the presence of 300,000-fold excess of nonmismatched sites. We demonstrate the detection of both heterozygous and homozygous mutations in the cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator gene and single nucleotide polymorphism in HLA region by Mu transposition mismatch analysis procedure.