Patent Application: US-201213565105-A

Abstract:
the present invention provides an efficient way for high throughput haplotype analysis . several polymorphic nucleic acid markers , such as snps , can be simultaneously and reliably determined through multiplex pcr of single nucleic acid molecules in several parallel single molecule dilutions and the consequent statistical analysis of the results from these parallel single molecule multiplex pcr reactions results in reliable determination of haplotypes present in the subject . the nucleic acid markers can be of any distance to each other on the chromosome . in addition , an approach wherein overlapping dna markers are analyzed can be used to link smaller haplotypes into larger haplotypes . consequently , the invention provides a powerful new tool for diagnostic haplotyping and identifying novel haplotypes .

Description:
the present invention provides a direct molecule haplotyping approach which is based upon a surprising discovery that a single molecule dilution of genomic dna can be used for separation of two homologous genomic dnas and that using repeated dilutions from the same subject organisms as a starting material for multiplex amplification of different nucleic acid markers , haplotypes of any subject organisms can be determined and are statistically accurate . the diluted , amplified sample is then genotyped using , for example , the massarray ™ system ( fig1 ). parallel genotyping of several different dilutions from the same subject results in statistically accurate haplotype determination in the subject organism . the approach of the present invention differs significantly from previous single molecule pcr method in that the method of the present invention does not require the amplification of the complete genomic region containing the markers of interest ; thus it is not limited to only a few kb dna . the method of the present invention achieves close to 100 % genotype and haplotype success rates for single dna molecules . additionally , the multiplex genotyping assay approach enables direct haplotype determination without pedigree genotype information . high throughput haplotyping can easily be achieved by incorporating the method of the present invention with any commercially available genotyping systems , such as the massarray ™ system . in one embodiment , the invention provides a method of determining a haplotype of a subject comprising the steps of obtaining a nucleic acid , preferably a genomic dna sample , diluting the nucleic acid sample into substantially a single molecule dilution , amplifying the nucleic acid sample with at least two primer pairs designed to amplify a genomic region containing a nucleic acid polymorphism on one chromosome and genotyping the amplified dna . repeating the steps from diluting the nucleic acid sample , at least 3 or more times and statistically analyzing the results , thereby determining the haplotype of the subject organisms . the “ subject ” as used in the specification refers to any organism with at least diploid genome including , but not limited to worms , fish , insects , plants , murine and other mammals including domestic animals such as cows , horse , dogs , cats , and , most preferably humans . the methods of the present invention are useful , for example , in diagnosing or determining a prognosis in a disease condition known to be associated with a specific haplotype ( s ), to map a disease or other biological trait the cause of which is currently unknown to a defined chromosomal region using haplotypes in the linkage analysis , to determine novel haplotypes , to detect haplotype associations with responsiveness to pharmaceuticals . genomic dna can be obtained or isolated from a subject using any method of dna isolation known to one skilled in the art . examples of dna isolation methods can be found in general laboratory manuals , such as sambrook and russel , molecular cloning : a laboratory manual , 3rd ed ., cold spring harbor laboratory press , cold spring harbor , n . y . ( 2001 ), the entirety of which is herein incorporated by reference . polymorphic markers and oligonucleotides . the number of polymorphic nucleic acid useful according to the present invention is ever increasing . currently , such markers are readily available from a variety of publicly accessible databases and new ones are constantly being added to the pool of available markers . markers including restriction length polymorphisms , short tandem repeats such as di -, tri -, and tetra - nucleotide repeats as well as methylation status can be used as polymorphic markers according to the present invention . such markers are well known to one skilled in the art and can be found in various publications and databases including , for example , atcc short tandem repeat ( str ) database at world wide web address atcc dot org . particularly useful markers according to the present invention are single nucleotide polymorphisms ( snps ). examples of useful snp databases include , but are not limited to human snp database at world wide web address wi dot mit dot edu , ncbi dbsnp home page at world wide web address ncbi dot nlm dot nih dot gov , world wide web address lifesciences dot perkinelmer dot corn , celera human snp database at world wide web address celera dot corn , the snp database of the genome analysis group ( gan ) at world wide web address gan dot iarc dot fr . a number of nucleic acid primers are already available to amplify dna fragments containing the polymorphisms and their sequences can be obtained , for example , from the above - identified databases . additional primers can also be designed , for example , using a method similar to that published by vieux , e . f ., kwok , p - y and miller , r . d . in biotechniques ( june 2002 ) vol . 32 . supplement : “ snps : discovery of marker disease , pp . 28 - 32 . novel snps can also be identified using a method of massarray ™ discovery - rt ( snp - discovery ) system by sequenom inc . ( san diego , calif .). a number of different nucleotide polymorphism genotyping methods useful according to the present invention are known to one skilled in the art . methods such as restriction length polymorphism analysis ( rflp ), single - strand conformation polymorphism ( sscp ) analysis , denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis ( dgge ), temperature gradient gel electrophoresis ( tgge ), chemical cleavage analysis , direct sequencing of nucleic acids using labels including but not limited to fluorescent and radioactive labels . all these methods have been available or at least a decade and are well known to one skilled in the art . snp genotyping can be performed using a number of different techniques known to one skilled in the art . for example , snp genotyping by maldi - tof mass spectrometry can performed using , for example , the sequenom &# 39 ; s mass spectrometry system , massarray ™. in this method , after multiplexed pcr has been performed using more than one primer pair , each flanking different snps , a minisequencing primer extension reaction is performed in a single well using chain terminator nucleotides . the size of reaction products is determined directly by maldi - tof mass spectrometry , yielding the genotype information . it should be possible based upon this teaching . multiplexing permits determination of , for example , at least 2 , 3 , 4 , and 5 snps in a single well of a , for example 384 well plate . for example , at least 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 - 12 - plex genotyping can be performed using the massarray ™ system . the massarray ™ system , for example , can be used to increase the multiplexity level of the genotyping reactions to even higher , for example at least 12 - 15 , 20 , 30 , 40 , and 50 - 100 and even higher . alternatively , fragment analysis for snp detection can be performed on batches of several samples on a capillary electrophoresis system , for example an abi prism ® 3100 genetic analyzer ( applied biosystems , foster city , calif .). for capillary electrophoretic analysis , the primers can be labeled using dyes , including , but not limited to fam , hex , ned , liz , rox , tamra , pet and vic . single snp allelic discrimination can further be carried out using the abi prism ® 7900ht sequence detection system ( applied biosystems , foster city , calif . ), which allows analysis of single nucleotide polymorphisms ( snps ) using the fluorogenic 5 ′ nuclease assay . yet another available method useful according to the present invention is an arrayed primer extension ( apex ) which is a resequencing method for rapid identification of polymorphisms that combines the efficiency of an microarray - based assay ( alternative to gel - based methods , see , e . g ., u . s . pat . no . 6 , 153 , 379 and shumaker et al . hum . mutat . 7 ( 4 ): 346 - 354 , 1996 ) with the sanger nucleic acid sequencing method ( sanger et al ., proc . natl . acad . sci . 74 : 5463 - 5467 ( 1977 )). generally , microarrays are microchips , for example glass slides , containing thousands of dna segments in an ordered array , which allows the simultaneous analysis of thousands of genetic markers . a yet another genotyping method useful according to the present invention is a solid - phase mini - sequencing technique , which is also based upon a primer extension reaction and can be used for genotyping of snps and can also be easily automated ( u . s . pat . no . 6 , 013 , 431 , suomalainen et al . mol . biotechnol . june ; 15 ( 2 ): 123 - 31 , 2000 ). in general , a primer extension reaction is a modified cycle sequencing reaction in which at least one dideoxynucleotide ( terminator ) is present and not all deoxynucleotides are present at any significant concentration . when a terminator is incorporated onto a dna strand , no further extension can occur on that strand . in a standard cycle sequencing reaction , terminators are present only in small concentrations along with high concentrations of typical nucleotides . in the single base extension reactions for snp assays , two or more fluorescently or radioactively labeled terminator nucleotides ( corresponding to the two or more alleles present at the snp to be typed ) are used . the steps of the method of the present invention include diluting the nucleic acid sample into single nucleotide dilution , amplifying the diluted sample , and genotyping the amplified sample . these steps are repeated at least 3 times , preferably at least 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 - 15 , 15 - 20 , 20 - 25 , or even 25 - 50 times . preferably , the steps are repeated about 12 - 18 times so that the results can be statistically analyzed . the poisson distribution analysis is used to analyze the results using the methods known to one skilled in the art . the analysis is described in detail , for example in stephens et al . am j hum genet 46 : 1149 - 1155 , 1990 . haplotype is defined as a combination of alleles or nucleic acid polymorphisms , such as snps of closely linked loci that are found in a single chromosome and which tend to be inherited together . recombinations occur at different frequency in different parts of the genome and therefore , the length of the haplotypes vary throughout the chromosomal regions and chromosomes . for a specific gene segment , there are often many theoretically possible combinations of snps , and therefore there are many theoretically possible haplotypes . traditionally , information about gene flow in a pedigree has been used to reconstruct likely haplotypes for families and individuals . however , even if nucleic acid samples from all the family members were available , which is rarely the case , statistics - based haplotype analysis does frequently not reveal the correct phase , i . e . haplotype , of the markers . additionally , collection of large sample materials from , for example human families , is time consuming and expensive . in one embodiment , the present invention provides a method wherein novel haplotypes are determined using either established or novel nucleic acid polymorphisms . for example , novel snps are first identified using nucleic acid samples isolated from several subject organisms of the same species , each polymorphic snp marker from a subject is then genotyped individually , for example using about 1 - 10 ng , preferably about 5 ng genomic dna . the genomic dna sample is then diluted into about 1 copy of genomic template per dilution . the haplotype is determined by determining the snp &# 39 ; s in a diluted sample , i . e ., sample diluted into a substantially single molecule dilution . alternatively , the sample can be genotyped first or in parallel for each maker using more concentrated nucleic acid solution . this can be used to verify or control the haplotype determination using the diluted sample replicas . the genomic region to be haplotyped using the method of the present invention is preferably at least about 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 , or 9 kb , more preferably at least about 10 kb or more , at least about 15 kb or more , at least about 20 kb or more . in one embodiment , the size of the region containing the polymorphic nucleotides is at least about 25 kb or more , at least about 35 kb or more , at least about 40 - 45 kb , or 45 - 50 or even about 50 - 100 kb or more . most preferably the genomic region is about 25 kb or more . in determining the haplotypes , both the pcr and the genotyping reactions are preferably “ multiplexed ” which term is meant to include combining at least two , preferably more than at least 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 - 15 , or 20 - 25 extension primers in the same reaction are used to identify , preferably at least about 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 - 15 , or 20 - 25 polymorphic nucleic acid regions in the same genotyping reaction . in one embodiment , at least 30 primer pairs or more are used . in one embodiment , the polymorphism is at least one nucleic acid modification , such as a methylation difference . in one embodiment , the present invention provides a method of determining haplotypes comprised of markers including methylation differences . the method of haplotyping methylation differences according to the present invention comprises the steps of diluting a nucleic acid sample from a subject organism into two parallel substantially single molecule dilutions . the two dilutions are consequently subjected to a methylation detection assay , for example , an aflp assay ( see , e . g ., vos et al . nucleic acids res 23 : 4407 - 4414 , 1995 ; xu et al ., plant molecular biology reporter 18 : 361 - 368 , 2000 ). the assay described by vos et al . and xu et al is modified to perform according the method of present invention . in short , two single molecule dilutions are digested in two parallel reactions with a mixture comprising a methylation sensitive enzyme and another enzyme , preferably a less frequent cutting restriction enzyme , wherein the less frequent cutting restriction enzyme in both digestion reactions is the same and the methylation sensitive enzymes added to the two parallel reactions differ in their capacity to digest methylated / non - methylated nucleic acids . for example , one dilution is digested with a combination of ecori and hpaii and the parallel dilution is treated digested with ecori and mspi . the two digested samples are then ligated using an adapter - ligation solution as described in vos et al . and xu et al ., and amplified in parallel reactions using at least two , preferably more than two primer pairs which are capable of recognizing the restriction enzyme recognition sites in the templates . in the above - described example , ecori and hpaii - mspi primers are used . one of the primers is labeled so as to allow detection of the fragments from the digestions using , for example gel electrophoretic methods or mass spectrometric detection . the methylation detection procedure as described above is repeated at least 3 more times , preferably at least about 6 - 12 times so as to allow statistical analysis of the correct methylation haplotype in the subject organism . in light of this disclosure , other nucleic acid modification detection technologies including methylation detection techniques may be readily adapted to be used according to the principle steps of the present invention including single molecule dilution , digestion , multiplex amplification and multiplex genotyping . methylation detection methods may also be combined to detect both methylation and other polymorphic markers , such as snps . in such embodiment , the amplification after restriction enzyme digestion is performed not only with methylation specific primers but also with primers designed to amplify fragments containing known nucleic acid polymorphisms , such as snps . in one embodiment , the invention provides a method of creating haplotypes of several polymorphic nucleotides using overlapping multiplex genotyping assays with single dna molecules . for example , markers from a large genomic region are chosen and one or more separate multiplex amplification reactions are performed from single nucleotide dilutions and overlapping heterozygous polynucleotide markers are used to obtain the entire haplotype . for example , fig3 shows seven snp markers ( a : rs289744 , b : rs2228667 , c : rs5882 , d : rs5880 , e : rs5881 , f : rs291044 , g : 2033254 ) from an 8 kb genomic region of the cetp locus that were chosen to determine a haplotype . details of these snps , their chromosome position and oligonucleotides used for genotyping are provided in table 2 . two 5 - plex genotyping assays were designed for the 7 markers and the overlapping heterozygous snps were used to obtain the entire haplotype of 7 snp markers . assays on individual no . 6 were used to demonstrate how this is carried out . multiplex assay 1 determined the haplotype of 5 snps as agagt and cgggc . multiplex assay 2 determined the other haplotype of 5 snps as gggct and aggtt . then , the genotypes of the overlapping snps ( snp c , e , f ) were used to combine the two 5 - snp haplotypes into a haplotype of 7 snps covering the entire region under investigation . the effects of genomic dna concentration on haplotyping efficiency were determined as follows . we used 3 picograms ( pg ), 5 pg and 9 pg ( equivalent of 1 , 1 . 6 and 3 genomic template copies ) of genomic dna for pcr amplification and genotyping of 3 snps in the cetp region from 12 individuals . each 3 - plex assay was repeated 12 - 18 times to evaluate the pcr and haplotyping efficiency . a typical assay result is summarized in table 1 . the copy number of the genomic dna region of interest for very dilute dna solutions is estimated by the poisson distribution 13 . haplotyping results were categorized into 4 groups ( table 1 ). failed assays can result from either failed pcr amplification from single copy dnas or simply no template present due to stochastic fluctuation of very dilute dna solutions . partially failed genotyping calls ( or incomplete multiplexes ) are those that have only 1 or 2 snps successfully genotyped . this is most likely due to unsuccessful pcr for 1 or 2 of the snp dna regions , since in most cases the 3 snp markers are present or absent at the same time due to the close proximity of the snp markers (& lt ; 628 bp ). poisson distribution may also result in the presence both alleles in the solution and hence the inability to resolve the phase of the snps . successful haplotyping analysis is achieved when a single copy of the allele or multiple copies of the same allele are present and the genotyping is successful . incomplete multiplex genotyping can be used to estimate the efficiency of genotyping from single copy dna molecules . a partial genotyping call suggests the presence of the snp dna but a failure to genotype some of the snps . we typically observed 5 - 10 % incomplete multiplex genotyping calls ( fig2 ), suggesting a pcr efficiency of about 90 - 95 % with single dna molecules . this approach may overestimate the pcr efficiency , since we did not take the completely failed assays into account . we also carried out detailed comparison between observed and theoretical values of failed assays , successful haplotyping and the presence of both alleles ( fig2 and see methods section for details of calculation ). theoretical values are based on the poisson distribution of very dilute dna solutions and the assumption of 100 % pcr amplification efficiency . the close agreement between theoretical estimate and experimental observation substantiates the earlier estimate of extremely high pcr efficiency with single dna molecules . high pcr efficiency is mainly due to the high efficiency of amplification of very short amplicons ( typically 100 bp ) and the high sensitivity of maldi - tof mass spectrometric detection of dna oligonucleotides . high pcr efficiency is preferred for high - throughput haplotyping analysis . for example , with our current pcr efficiency , we can achieve 40 - 45 % haplotyping efficiency with one single reaction using 3 - 4 . 5 pg genomic dna . a replicate of 4 independent multiplex genotyping assays will enable about 90 % of direct haplotyping efficiency . we next demonstrated an approach for determining haplotypes where there are too many markers to be determined in one multiplex genotyping assay . overlapping informative snps were used to combine haplotypes from several multiplex assays . we chose six snp markers in an 8 kb cetp genomic region , and 2 overlapping 4 - plex genotyping assays were used for haplotyping analysis ( fig3 ). we were able to determine the haplotypes of all 12 individuals for this genomic region , with absolutely no optimization of the assay system . the approach presented here provides a powerful and unique technology platform for direct molecular haplotyping analysis of long - range genomic regions . this approach is completely independent of pedigree genotype information . we have further incorporated this technique with the commercially available massarray ™ system for high - throughput applications . this technology is extremely useful in large - scale haplotyping and haplotype - based diagnostics . genomic dnas and oligo nucleotides . human genomic dna samples used for haplotyping of the cetp locus were provided by sequenom inc . ( san diego , calif .). these dnas were isolated using the puregene dna isolation kit ( gentra systems ) from blood samples purchased from the blood bank ( san bernadino county , calif .). the personal background of the blood donors is not accessible for these samples . human genomic dnas samples for haplotyping of a 25 kb segment on chromosome 5q31 were cetp family dnas purchased from coriell cell repositories ( see table 3 ). information on snps and oligonucleotides for genotyping is provided in table 2 . genotyping and haplotyping analysis . genotyping analyses were carried out using the massarray ™ system ( sequenom inc .). each snp from every individual was first genotyped individually using 5 ng genomic dna . for haplotyping analysis , multiplex genotyping assays were carried out using 3 pg ( or approximately 1 copy of genomic template , unless otherwise specified ) genomic dna . analysis of effects of genomic dna concentration on haplotyping . to calculate the percentage of failed assays , we simply counted all failed assays ( no calls for either snp ), divided by the total number of assays . we typically do 12 to 18 replicates for each 6 or 12 individuals . the percentage of incomplete assays is calculated in the same way . to calculate percentage of successful haplotyping and both alleles , we excluded the data from those individuals with homozygous haplotypes . theoretical predictions are based on the poisson distribution of very diluted dna solutions , according to a published method 13 . 1 . grupe , a . et al . in silico mapping of complex disease - related traits in mice . science 292 , 1915 - 8 . 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