Patent ID: 7262029

Claim:
A method for detecting 5-methylcytosine in a DNA template comprising: treating the DNA template with a bisulfite salt under conditions whereby 5-methylcytosine remains non-reactive; incubating the DNA template with a DNA polymerase, dATP, dGTP, dCTP, dTTP, at least two oligonucleotide primers complementary to the DNA template, and a dye-labeled rCTP compound so that the primers are extended to form primer extension products and the dye-labeled rCTP compound is incorporated in the primer extension products; hydrolyzing 3′-5′ phosphodiester linkages between adjacent ribo- and deoxyribonucleotides in the primer extension products to produce fragments; resolving the fragments by size; and detecting the fragments in order to detect 5-methylcytosine in the DNA template.