To fulfill the increasing need for large-scale genetic research, a high-throughput and automated SNPs genotyping method based on gold magnetic nanoparticles (GMNPs) array and dual-color single base extension has been designed. After amplification of DNA templates, biotinylated extension primers were captured by streptavidin coated gold magnetic nanoparticle (SA-GMNPs). Next a solid-phase, dual-color single base extension (SBE) reaction with the specific biotinylated primer was performed directly on the surface of the GMNPs. Finally, a "bead array" was fabricated by spotting GMNPs with fluorophore on a clean glass slide, and the genotype of each sample was discriminated by scanning the "bead array". MTHFR gene C677T polymorphism of 320 individual samples were interrogated using this method, the signal/noise ratio for homozygous samples were over 12.33, while the signal/noise ratio for heterozygous samples was near 1. Compared with other dual-color hybridization based genotyping methods, the method described here gives a higher signal/noise ratio and SNP loci can be identified with a high level of confidence. This assay has the advantage of eliminating the need for background subtraction and direct analysis of the fluorescence values of the GMNPs to determine their genotypes without the necessary procedures for purification and complex reduction of PCR products. The application of this strategy to large-scale SNP studies simplifies the process, and reduces the labor required to produce highly sensitive results while improving the potential for automation.
Keywords: Dual-color SBE; Gold magnetic nanoparticles; Magnetic beads; Microarray; Single nucleotide polymorphisms.