[Chemical cleavage of DNA with single base mismatches for detection of mutations of unknown localization]

The most promising approach for detection of random point mutations relies upon the DNA chemical cleavage near associated mismatching base pairs. In our study, the series of heteroduplexes with all types of mismatches and extrahelical nucleotide residues surrounded by both A x T and G x C pairs were performed via hybridization of 50-mer synthetic oligonucleotides differing in only one nucleotide at the central position. The chemical cleavage of DNA duplexes immobilized on magnetic beads by means of biotin-streptavidin interaction was carried out with chemicals, which able to attack only nucleobases flipped out of the base stack: potassium permanganate and hydroxylamine reacting to T and C respectively. The chemical reactivity of different mismatches was shown to correlate clearly with the target local structure in a particular sequence context. This work makes up for a deficiency in systematic study of DNA cleavage near mismatches in dependence on their type, orientation and flanking nucleotides. The model system elaborated may be applied to estimate the sensitivity of the methodology and to control the possibility of false-positive and false-negative result appearance, when different protocols for detection of DNA mutations are used. The modification of heteroduplex mixtures by potassium permanganate and hydroxylamine allows to reveal any non-canonical base pair and suggest its type and neighboring nucleotides from the nature of chemical as well as its localization from the length of cleavage products.