Electrochemical scanning of DNA point mutations via MutS protein-mediated mismatch recognition

Biosens Bioelectron. 2009 Mar 15;24(7):1955-61. doi: 10.1016/j.bios.2008.09.029. Epub 2008 Oct 15.

Abstract

MutS protein is an important part of the DNA repair system which can specifically recognize and bind all possible single-base mismatches as well as 1-4 base insertion or deletion loops with varying affinities independent of other proteins or cofactors. In this paper, a new approach for electrochemical gene mutation detection based on the utilization of MutS protein for the mutation recognition and spontaneously intercalated methylene blue (MB) markers for electrochemical signal generation is described. This method involves the immobilization of MutS protein onto the gold electrode, the hybridization of target DNA to form homoduplex or heteroduplex DNA, the application of MutS protein for the mutation recognition, and finally the intercalation of MB. The background is very low because MutS protein binds DNA containing mispaired and unpaired bases but does not bind equally well to DNA without mismatches or single-stranded DNA. The proposed approach has been successfully implemented for the identification of single-base mutation in -28 site of the beta-thalassemia gene with a detection limit of 5.6 x 10(-13)M, demonstrating that this method provides a highly specific and cost-efficient approach for point mutation detection.

Publication types

  • Evaluation Study
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Base Pair Mismatch / genetics*
  • Biosensing Techniques / instrumentation*
  • Biosensing Techniques / methods
  • DNA / chemistry
  • DNA / genetics*
  • DNA Mutational Analysis / instrumentation*
  • DNA Mutational Analysis / methods
  • Electrochemistry / instrumentation*
  • Electrochemistry / methods
  • Equipment Design
  • Equipment Failure Analysis
  • MutS DNA Mismatch-Binding Protein / chemistry
  • MutS DNA Mismatch-Binding Protein / genetics*
  • Mutation / genetics
  • Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide / genetics*
  • Protein Interaction Mapping / instrumentation*
  • Protein Interaction Mapping / methods
  • Reproducibility of Results
  • Sensitivity and Specificity

Substances

  • DNA
  • MutS DNA Mismatch-Binding Protein