Patent ID: 7897335

Claim:
A gel-free method, comprising: a) providing; i) a sample comprising template nucleic acid suspected to contain a mutant gene, said template being present in a background of the corresponding wild-type gene, ii) primers capable of introducing sequences encoding an N-terminal marker and a C-terminal marker into said nucleic acid so as to create a modified template, and iii) a translation system; b) diluting at least a portion of said sample to create a plurality of diluted samples at least a portion of which contain some template and a portion contains no template; c) treating said plurality of diluted samples with said primers under conditions such that said sequences encoding said N-terminal and C-terminal markers are introduced into at least some of said nucleic acid template such that modified template encoding a protein is produced as an amplification product in ten percent of said diluted samples and no amplification product is produced in ninety percent of said diluted samples; d) introducing said modified template into said translation system under conditions such that a nascent protein is generated, said protein comprising at least said N-terminal marker; and e) testing said nascent protein under gel-free conditions that permit the detection of a truncated protein.