Patent ID: 7153671

Claim:
A method for the relative quantification of the methylation of cytosine bases in DNA samples, said method comprising the steps of: a) chemically reacting a genomic DNA sample with a reagent, wherein 5-methylcytosine and cytosine react differently and these thus show a different base pairing behavior in the DNA duplex after the reaction; b) then, amplifying the chemically reacted DNA sample by PCR, said amplifying step comprising the use of a fluorescently labeled dCTP or dGTP derivative to yield amplified products, whereby several fluorophores are introduced into one amplified product; c) then, spatially separating the amplified products from each other; d) then, quantitatively measuring the fluorescence of the separated amplified products; and e) then, determining from the measured fluorescence the relative number of methylated cytosine bases that were present in the DNA sample prior to step a).