Patent ID: 6197498
Filing Date: 2001-03-06
Classification: C12Q,G01N,H01J,Y10T

Abstract:
A process for identifying the presence or absence of a mutation in a target sequence in a nucleic acid molecule, comprising the steps of:a) hybridizing a nucleic acid molecule comprising the target nucleic acid sequence with an oligonucleotide probe, which is complementary to a region of the target nucleic acid sequence that can contain a mutation, thereby forming a heteroduplex;b) contacting the heteroduplex with a single strand specific endonuclease, which can cleave the heteroduplex at a site of a mismatch, if present, to produce a cleavage product comprising a cleaved probe, a cleaved target nucleic acid sequence, or both; andc) detecting the product of step b) by mass spectrometry, thereby identifying the presence or absence of a mutation in the target nucleic acid sequence.