Mutation Screening Using PCR-SSCP : Silver Staining and Isotopic Protocols

Screening for mutations prior to sequencing can reduce the time and costs of identifying mutations. When the DNA sequence is known, the technique of detecting mutations as single-stranded conformational polymorphisms (SSCP) is a convenient method of screening for possible mutations. SSCP was originally developed by Orita et al. (1). It has the ability of detecting a single base change, and has been applied to a number of genes, including the insulin receptor (2), GLUT 4 (3), glucokinase (4), and the mitochondrial genome (5).