Patent Application: US-53100000-A

Abstract:
disclosed are methods for detecting in situ the presence of a target sequence in a substantially double - stranded nucleic acid segment , which comprises : a ) contacting in situ under conditions suitable for hybridization a substantially double - stranded nucleic acid segment with a detectable third strand , said third strand being capable of hybridizing to at least a portion of the target sequence to form a triple - stranded structure , if said target sequence is present ; and b ) detecting whether hybridization between the third strand and the target sequence has occured .

Description:
the third strand is a synthetic or naturally occurring oligonucleotide capable of binding with specificity to a predetermined target region of a double - stranded nucleic acid molecule to form a triple - stranded structure . the third strand may bind solely to one strand of the native nucleic acid molecule , or may bind to both strands at different points along its length . preferably , the oligonucleotide probe is a single - stranded dna molecule between about 7 and about 50 , most preferably between about 10 and about 23 nucleotides in length . its base composition can be homopurine , homopyrimidine , or a mixture of purines and pyrimidines . the third - strand binding code and preferred conditions under which a triple - stranded helix will form are well known to those skilled in the art ( u . s . pat . no . 5 , 422 , 251 ; beal and dervan , science 251 : 1360 ( 1991 ); beal and dervan , nucleic acids res ., 20 : 2773 ( 1992 ); broitman and fresco , proc . natl . acad . sci . usa , 84 : 5120 ( 1987 ); fossella , et al ., nuc . acids res . 21 : 4511 ( 1993 ); letai , et al ., biochemistry 27 : 9108 ( 1988 ); sun , et al ., proc . natl . acad . sci . usa 86 : 9198 ( 1989 )). briefly , adenosine , uridine , thymidine and inosine in the third strand will bind to adenosine in the duplex , and guanosine , cytidine and inosine in the third strand will bind to guanosine in the duplex . the third strand need not be perfectly complementary ( in the binding code sense , not in the watson - crick sense ) to the duplex , but may be substantially complementary . in general , by substantially complementary is meant that one mismatch is tolerable in about every 10 base pairs . the third strand may have a natural phosphodiester backbone or may be comprised of other backbone chemical groups or mixtures of chemical groups which do not prevent the triple - stranded helix from forming . these alternative chemical groups include phosphorothioates , methylphosphonates , peptide nucleic acids ( pnas ), and others known to those skilled in the art . preferably , the third - strand backbone is phosphodiester . the third strand may also comprise one or more modified sugars , which would be known to those skilled in the art . an example of such a sugar includes α - enantiomers . the third strand may also incorporate one or more synthetic bases if such is necessary or desirable to improve third - strand binding . examples of synthetic base design and the bases so designed are found in the co - pending u . s . application ser . no . 08 / 473 , 888 of fresco , et al . entitled “ residues for binding third strands to complementary nucleic acid duplexes of any base - pair sequence ”, filed jun . 7 , 1995 , and published as wo / 9641009 , the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference . if it is necessary to protect the third strand from nucleases resident in the target cells , the third strand may be modified with one or more protective groups . in a preferred embodiment , the 3 ′ and 5 ′ ends may be capped with a number of chemical groups known to one of ordinary skill , such as alkyl amines , acridine , cholesterol , etc . in another embodiment , the third strand may be protected from exonucleases by circularization . the third strand should include a reporter group which has a physical or chemical characteristic which can be measured or detected by appropriate detector systems or procedures , which will allow detection of triplex formation . detectability can be provided by such characteristics as color change , luminescence , fluorescence or radioactivity , or it can be provided by the ability of the reporter group to serve as a ligand recognition site . such characteristics can be measured or detected , for example , by the use of conventional calorimetric , spectrophotometric , fluorometric or radioactivity sensing instrumentation , or by visual inspection , e . g ., microscopic observation . the interactions which can be usefully initiated by the reporter group include appropriately specific and selective interactions productive of groups or complexes which are themselves detectable , for example , by colorimetric , spectrophotometric , fluorometric or radioactive detection procedures . such interactions can take the form of protein - ligand , enzyme - substrate , antibody - antigen , carbohydrate - lectin , protein - cofactor , protein - effector , nucleic acid - nucleic acid , and nucleic acid - ligand interactions . examples of such ligand - ligand interactions include fluorescein - antifluorescein antibody , dinitrophenyl - dinitrophenyl antibody and biotin - avidin . either one of each of such ligand pairs may serve as a ligand recognition type reporter group . preferred reporter groups of the present invention include , for example , biotin , fluorescein , digoxigenin , phenyloxazolone , tetramethyl rhodamine , texas red , and bodipy ( contains the 4 , 4 - difluoro - 4 - bora - 3a , 4a - diaza - s - indacene unit ). general methods for joining the reporter group to the third strand are well known to those skilled in the art . examples of those methods may be found , for example , in u . s . pat . nos . 4 , 711 , 955 and 5 , 684 , 142 . the substantially double - stranded nucleic acid segment may comprise any combination of naturally occurring nucleic acid types , such as two dna strands , two rna strands , or a dna - rna hybrid . by “ substantially double - stranded ” is meant that the two strands which make up the nucleic acid segment need not be hybridized to each other along their entire length . it is preferred that the target sequence to which the third strand binds is completely double - stranded , but a degree of non - binding between the two strands of the target sequence is tolerable , so long as it does not exceed about 1 mismatch in 10 base pairs . the target sequence may be any sequence for which detection is desired , and may be anywhere along the length of dna or rna found in a cell , including α - satellite regions , other satellite regions , non - satellite heterochromatin , or euchromatin regions . the target sequence may be within the chromosomal region of a eukaryotic species , particularly organisms of commercial significance in agriculture , or the double - stranded stage of a virus . the in situ hybridization may take place in environments known to those skilled in the art , and are in most respects similar to those used for conventional in situ hybridization on denatured nucleic acids , although according to the present invention the target sequence is not denatured . the present hybridization may be performed on metaphase spreads and interphase nuclei , the preparation of which would be readily apparent to those skilled in the art . the major difference from conventional in situ hybridization is that in performance of the present invention , the hybridization conditions ( e . g ., temperature , ph ,. salt concentration , etc .) are non - denaturing and should be such that , as described above , the target nucleic acid segment is substantially double - stranded . it is preferred that the target sequence contain a purine - rich segment on one strand and a complementary pyrimidine - rich segment on the other strand . a stretch of at least ten consecutive purine bases is particularly preferred . the oligonucleotide may be modified to include a moiety which will enhance the binding of the third strand to the target sequence . such a moiety may be positioned anywhere along the length of the third strand . suitable moieties include well known dna - binding , cross - linking or intercalating agents such as psoralen , acridine , coralyne , etc . the binding moiety is often incorporated into the oligonucleotide during its synthesis . for example , commercially available compounds such as psoralen c2 phosphoroamidite ( glen research , sterling va .) are inserted into a specific location within an oligonucleotide sequence in accordance with the methods of takasugi , et al ., proc . natl . acad . sci usa , 88 : 5602 ( 1991 ); gia , et al ., biochemistry 31 : 11818 ( 1992 ); giovannangeli , et al ., proc . natl . acad . sci . usa , 89 : 8631 ( 1992 ), all of which are incorporated by reference herein . the binding moiety may also be attached to the oligonucleotide through a linker , such as sulfo - m - maleimidonbenzoly - n - hydroxysuccinimide ester ( sulfo - mbs , pierce chemical company , rockford ill .) in accordance with the methods of liu , et al ., biochem . 18 : 690 ( 1979 ) and kitagawa and ailawa , j . biochem . 79 : 233 ( 1976 ), both of which are incorporated by reference herein . third - strand in situ hybridization ( tish ) complements and extends denaturant watson - crick - based fish ( 7 ) technology to permit molecular cytogenetic and biochemical studies of non - denatured metaphase and interphase fixed chromosomes and chromatin , though it is not restricted to such uses . in table 1 below , we have identified unique multicopy α - satellite third - strand target sequences in 22 of 24 human chromosomes , making centromere - specific chromosome identification by tish applicable to virtually all human chromosomes . in the table , third - strand target sequences ( column 2 ) within the ∝- satellite dna of a particular human chromosome type or chromosome group , e . g ., 1 , 15 , 16 ( column 1 ) are given . numbers after the decimal indicate that different third - strand target sequences are shared within a group or are unique to a single chromosome . group ( 1 , 15 , 16 ) has three target sequences . chromosome 3 contains four uniquely different target sequences . tish is also applicable to other multicopy sequences , as well as to single copy sequence identification , if those sequences are amenable to third - strand binding . in that event , they would have the same utility as fish for diagnosing genetic disorders , screening for individuals at risk for developing genetic - based diseases , and for diagnosing infectious diseases by detecting the presence of target sequences unique to a pathogen . complementary diagnostic roles for chromosome - specific α - satellite third - strand probes are as determinants of numerical chromosome abnormalities , i . e ., aneuploidy ( e . g ., trisomy 21 ), in metaphase and interphase cells of tumors , and of individuals with genetic disorders . tish - based aneuploid detection is particularly advantageous for those cell types having small nuclear volumes and extremely condensed chromatin , e . g ., uncultured prenatal amniocyte fluid cells and spermatozoa , since interphase chromatin denaturation is not required , and third - strand penetration of such nuclei under solution conditions may be more efficient . it is also noted that while fish and g - banding are incompatible , the former requiring denatured chromosomal dna and the latter non - denatured dna , tish shares that requirement with g - banding , so that those two techniques are applicable to the same mitotic chromosome preparations . in addition , the meiotic stability of chromosome - specific α - satellite polymorphisms ( 8 , 9 ) should , in cases where third - strand target sequences are heteromorphic , e . g ., d17z1 , permit tish to serve as a rapid assay for mendelian segregation analysis . third - strand hybridization of chromosome - specific α - satellite probes to interphase chromatin within nuclei may provide a tool for studying chromosome organization under aqueous conditions . hybridization of such probes to native metaphase chromosomes within mitotic cells in suspension also makes possible third strand - based chromosome - specific univariate flow sorting . the use and novel features of the present invention will be further understood in view of the following non - limiting examples . genbank , embl , and gb_new databases were searched for human o - satellite sequences using gcg software ( 10 ), and a homo sapiens α - satellite database was constructed from 336 sequence entries containing confirmed nucleotide sequences . this database was then searched to identify same strand and alternate strand ( i . e ., where the target sequence switches from one duplex strand to the other ) homopurine • homopyrimidine runs of defined length and specificity . mismatches due to inverted base pairs ( base pairs with a pyrimidine residue in the predominantly purine - containing target strand ) were limited to one per ten residues ( 2 / 20 , 3 / 30 , etc . ); and the position ( internal vs . terminal ) and relation ( adjacent vs . separate ) of two or more mismatches was considered when purine - rich • pyrimidine - rich runs exceeded 19 residues . three same strand and three alternate strand target sequences of varying specificities were identified for chromosome 17 . the nucleotide sequence of the chromosome 17 2 . 7 kb α - satellite higher - order repeat in recombinant clone p17h8 ( 11 ) was searched for matches to the six potential target sequences . identical sequences were found in higher - order repeat monomers 11 and 16 for one alternate and one same strand target sequence , respectively . similar sequences with mismatches were found for two others , one differing from the monomer 16 sequence by a single point mutation , and no matches were found for the remaining two . the unique 16 bp purine - rich • pyrimidine - rich chromosome 17 α - satellite sequence located in monomer 16 , and contained on p17h8 , was selected for in vitro and in situ third - strand targeting . the predominant organization of α - satellite at the d17z1 locus of chromosome 17 ( fig1 a ) from recombinant clone p17h8 ( 11 ), is representative of the general tandem molecular organization of the complement of α - satellites ( 12 ). the d17z1 locus consists of an array of tandem 2 . 7 kb higher - order repeat units , themselves composed of 16 divergent monomer sequences , each ˜ 171 bps in length . the 500 - 1000 tandem repeats separated by unique ecor1 restriction sites at their junctions , gives rise to arrays of 1 - 2 million base pairs . less abundant 15 - and 14 - monomer repeat units , ecor1 heteromorphs , are also found constituitively on chromosome 17 , with the 15 - and 14 - mers shown to be essentially identical in sequence to the 16 - mer , excluding just 1 and 2 tandem monomers , respectively ( 11 , 13 ). the chromosome 17 alpha - satellite sequence selected as the target for third - strand binding should be unique , multicopy , and chromosome - specific . the complete nucleotide sequence of the 2 . 7 kb higher - order repeat on chromosome 17 ( 11 ) shows substantial sequence divergence ( up to − 30 %) among its sixteen 171 bp monomers , but not within the 16 bp third - strand target sequence . independent clones of this tandem 2 . 7 kb higher - order repeat are & gt ; 99 % identical . moreover , sequence comparisons among the multimeric alpha - satellite higher - order repeats of human chromosomes show at least 15 - 30 % divergence ( 12 ). aaaaagaaga cagaag [ seq id no : 1 ] of the selected 16 bp chromosome 17 α - satellite target sequence is interrupted by one pyrimidine ( c ) residue . within the megabase chromosome 17 α - satellite array , this 500 - 1000 times - repeated target sequence occurs once within monomer 16 of each tandem 2 . 7 kb higher - order repeat ( 11 ) ( fig1 a ). within simple sequence dna , the chance occurrence of any 16 bp sequence is 416 or 1 in 4 . 3 × 10 9 . hence , the probability of a non - alpha satellite location for the multicopy chromosome 17 target sequence should be remote in the 3 × 10 9 base pair haploid human genome . tttttcttct ttcttc [ seq id no : 2 ] modified at its 5 ′ and 3 ′ termini with psoralen and biotin , respectively , binds the 16 bp α - satellite target sequence in parallel orientation to its purine strand complement ( fig1 b ). m 5 c ( 5 - methylcytosine ) residues were substituted for c to afford greater affinity for target g • c base pairs ( 14 ). binding specificity of this third strand to its purine - rich target is derived from the formation of 15 canonical triplets , 11 t : a • t and 4 m 5 c + : g • c . the non - canonical t : c • g triplet sandwiched between t : a • t nearest neighbors is only moderately destabilizing on similar y : r • y triplexes ( 4 ). the [ seq id no : 2 ] third strand and its dual 5 ′- psoralen - and 3 ′- biotin - modified version were synthesized by the β - cyanoethyl phosphoramidite method with an applied biosystems synthesizer 380b . a psoralen ( 4 ′- hydroxymethyl - 4 , 5 ′, 8 - trimethylpsoralen , hmt ) c6 phosphoramidite and biotin teg - cpg column ( both glen research ) were used to incorporate psoralen and biotin at respective 5 ′ and 3 ′ termini . the annotation 5 ′- pso - tm 5 c - bio - 3 ′ represents dual psoralen - and biotin - modified third strands , and 5 ′- tm 5 c - 3 ′, the non - modified form . crude synthesis products were analyzed by page and uv shadowing . oligomers were gel purified , desalted using water &# 39 ; s sep pak c18 cartridges , lyophilized , and stored at − 20 ° c . in sterile water . the concentration of oligonucleotides was determined in ddh 2 o at a 260 using extinction coefficients of 8800 and 5700 m − 1 cm − 1 for dt and dm 5 c residues , respectively . both quantitative solution and in situ third - strand hybridization assays were carried out in 25 μl of 10 mm bis - tris hcl - buffered cocktail at ph 6 . 0 containing optimal concentrations of mono -, di -, and polyvalent cations ( 50 mm k + / 10 mm mg 2 + / 1 μm spermine 4 + ), reducing and chelating agents ( 1 mm dtt and 1 mm edta ), a molecular crowding agent ( 2 % peg 8000 ), deionized formamide ( 1 . 0 - 2 . 5 %), and alcohol - precipitated ( 100 - 300 nt ) total yeast rna ( 1 . 0 ng ). for in situ hybridization , the chaotropic agent formamide was used at low concentrations (≦ 2 . 5 %) to reduce the capillary adhesion between glass microscope slide and coverslip surfaces , so as to promote third - strand equilibration across the total hybridizable surface area . formamide at these concentrations lowers the tm of duplex dna by only 0 . 7 - 1 . 75 ° c . yeast rna was used to compete out non - specific binding of third strands to glass surfaces and cellular debris . neither deionized formamide nor yeast rna at these concentrations affect the specificity or affinity of third - strand binding to the p17h8 chromosome 17 target sequence in solution . optimized solution binding assays confirmed third - strand binding specificity to chromosome 17 α - satellite target sites in various sized recombinant dnas ( 5 . 7 to 50 kb ) ( 15 ). one such assay is shown to demonstrate third - strand binding specificity to this target in a supercoiled plasmid ; another , to confirm that this specificity is not diminished in the presence of a human chromatin background similar in dna sequence complexity to a fixed protein - depleted mitotic spread . thus , incubation of radiolabeled third - strand probe lacking psoralen and biotin moieties , 5 ′- tm 5 c - 3 ′, with different supercoiled plasmid substrates demonstrated that third - strand binding is specific for the plasmid carrying the 16 bp α - satellite target sequence . plasmid substrates were p17h8 ( 5 . 7 kb ), which contains the complete 2 . 7 kb chromosome 17 α - satellite higher - order repeat , and pmj1 (˜ 5 . 5 kb ), a p17h8 deletion - derivative lacking the target sequence and an additional 158 bp of monomer 16 but containing monomers 1 - 15 . supercoiled p17h8 and pmj1 were mixed with 32 p - end - labeled third strand at an oligomer : plasmid molar ratio of 1 : 1 in 1 × triplex cocktail ± formamide ( 0 . 25 or 2 . 5 %) and yeast rna ( 1 . 0 ng ) at ph 6 . 0 and 23 ° c . for ˜ 20 hrs to attain equilibrium . fig2 a shows 32 p - label at gel positions corresponding to supercoiled ( sc ) and open circular ( oc ) p17h8 ( lanes 2 - 4 ). the deletion plasmid pmj1 , which lacks the target sequence but contains monomers 1 - 15 , was not bound by the labeled third strand ( lanes 5 - 7 ). the degree of sequence similarity between each of the 16 - 171 bp monomers that make up the α - satellite higher - order repeat of chromosome 17 provides an “ internal control ” for third - strand binding specificity . sequences in monomers 1 - 15 are similar in length and base composition to the monomer 16 target sequence , one differing from it by only two bases ( 11 ). hence , this solution binding assay shows that , under the conditions employed , third - strand binding is highly specific for the 16 bp sequence within monomer 16 of the 2 . 7 kb chromosome 17 α - satellite repeat on p17h8 . the specificity of third - strand binding to p17h8 was also examined in the presence of increasing amounts of unsorted human metaphase chromosomes ( 1 - 22 , xy ). in these solution binding assays , the stoichiometry of 32 p - end - labeled third strand , 5 ′- tm 5 c - 3 ′, to p17h8 was 2 : 1 . this permitted any non - specific binding to chromatin dna , histone and non - histone proteins , or rna to be detected as decreased plasmid - bound 32 p - third strand . the amount of alpha - satellite target sequence due to chromosome 17 (˜ 1 : 24 ) was insufficient to compete against plasmid targets . after 1 hr incubations , plasmid signal intensity was observed to decrease slightly as unsorted chromosomes increased from ˜ 24 to ˜ 2 , 400 . fig2 b shows the results of a kinetic experiment that examined this rate - limiting effect on binding to plasmid in the presence of ˜ 2 , 400 unsorted metaphase chromosomes . it can be seen that sc and oc plasmid - bound 32 p - third - strand signals increase over time , t o = 1 hr . thus , ˜ 2 , 400 chromosomes , i . e ., 6 × 10 11 bps of unsorted human chromosomal dna , did not detectably inhibit or impair the specificity of third - strand binding to p17h8 . it merely slowed the kinetics . this result suggested that specificity was achievable for third - strand binding to unique and accessible alpha - satellite target sequences on chromosome 17 in mitotic spreads and nuclei . tish was performed at ph 6 . 0 under non - denaturing solution conditions that give quantitative third - strand binding to recombinant dna molecules . a general protocol is as follows : solution conditions : 1 × triplex cocktail for tish contains 10 mm bis - tris - hcl / 50 mm kcl / 10 mm mgcl 2 / 1 mm dtt / 1 mm edta / 1 μm spermine / 2 % peg 8000 , ph 6 . 0 at 23 ° c . tish pre - hybridization , post - hybridization , and uva irradiation buffers are slight variations of this cocktail . the ph of bis - tris buffers is temperature sensitive , δph / δt =− 0 . 014 ( ph units /° c .). at the elevated temperatures used for hybridization ( 45 ° c .) and post - hybridization washing ( 51 ° c . ), the ph of tish buffers is 5 . 7 and 5 . 6 , respectively . pre - hybridization : room temperature slides containing metaphase spreads and interphase nuclei were dehydrated in successive 2 minute immersions in 70 , 80 , and 95 % ethanol ( at 23 ° c .) incubations . after air - drying , the slides were incubated in tish pre - hybridization buffer [ 10 mm bis - tris - hcl / 50 mm kcl / 2 . 5 mm edta / 1 mm dtt / ph 6 . 0 ] at room temperature for 30 minutes to promote chromosome swelling . for all remaining steps , the slides were never allowed to dry . hybridization : tish hybridization mixtures ( final vol . 25 μl ) contain 1 × triplex cocktail ( ph 6 . 0 ) supplemented with 1 . 0 - 2 . 5 % deionized formamide ( brl , ultrapure ), 1 . 0 ng of blocking rna ( alcohol precipitated , size fractionated total yeast rna ), and ˜ 20 ng of third - strand probe . hybridization mixtures and slides were pre - heated at 45 ° c . for 15 minutes in a water bath and humidified chamber , respectively , after which the mixtures were applied to the slides under 22 mm 2 glass coverslips . hybridization was performed in the pre - warmed humidified chamber for 2 hours at 45 ° c . post - hybridization washing : slides with coverslips intact were immersed into tish washing buffer [ 10 mm bis - tris - hcl / 75 mm kcl / 10 mm mgcl 2 / 1 mm dtt / ph 5 . 6 ] at 51 ° c ., agitated to loosen the coverslips , and incubated further for 5 min . uva photochemistry : after removal from the wash buffer , slides were quickly covered with 22 mm 2 coverslips to which 25 μl of dtt / edta - depleted 1 × cocktail , ph 6 . 0 , was applied . the slides were then placed in an open petri dish and uva ( 320 - 400 nm ) irradiated for 5 minutes ( 14 watt low pressure mercury arc , model # rpr 3500 å , the southern new england ultraviolet company , branford , conn .). typical uv irradiance was 1 . 6 j / cm 2 per 5 minutes at 320 - 400 nm . afterwards , the slides with coverslips intact were placed in 1 × pbd , ph 8 . 0 ( phosphate buffer with 0 . 05 % nonidet p40 ) at room temperature and agitated to loosen the coverslips . the incubation time in 1 × pbd is not critical . incubation times were generally 2 - 5 minutes , the longest 1 hour . cytochemical detection : slides were removed from the 1 × pbd , and 60 μl of fluorescein ( fitc )- labeled avidin ( oncor , inc ., gaithersburg , md .) was applied under a plastic coverslip . after incubation in a pre - warmed humidified chamber at 37 ° c . for 20 minutes , their plastic coverslips were carefully removed , and the slides then washed three times for 2 minutes each in 1 × pbd , ph 8 . 0 , at room temperature . after the final wash , excess fluid was blotted from the slide edges , and 15 μl of propidium iodide ( pi )/ antifade , ph 8 . 5 , ( final pi conc . 0 . 3 mg / ml ) ( oncor , inc .) was applied under a 22 mm 2 coverslip . the slides were then incubated for 5 minutes at room temperature . epi - fluorescent microscopy : fluorescent signals were captured and stored using an intel pentium powered oncor archive 2 . 0 color imaging system ( oncor , inc .) consisting of a zeiss epi - fluorescent microscope equipped with a 3ccd high resolution color camera controlled by a digital image processor . hydrated slides containing non - denatured metaphase spreads and interphase nuclei , isolated by standard cytogenetic methods from human lymphocytes , and a hybrid mouse × human chr . 17 fibroblast cell line ( cell line gm10498 , coriell institute for medical research , camden , n . j . ), were incubated with 25 μl of 1 × triplex hybridization mixtures containing 20 ng of chromosome 17 α - satellite - specific third strand probe , 5 ′- pso - tm 5 c - bio - 3 ′. optimal parameters for tish : pre - hybridization hydration ( 30 minutes at 23 ° c . ), hybridization ( 2 hours at 45 ° c . ), post - hybridization washing ( 5 minutes at 51 ° c . ), and uva ( 320 - 400 nm ) irradiation ( 5 minutes ) were determined empirically . post - hybridization washing at elevated temperature and volume effectively promotes dissociation of dual psoralen - and biotin - modified third strands bound to non - target duplex sequences . subsequent uva - induced psoralen - dna photoadduct formation prevents dissociation of target - specific bound third strands containing m 5 c + residues at the alkaline ph conditions required for pre - detection wash and fitc - avidin detection . chromosome 17 centromere - specific fluorescence hybridizations with high signal to noise ratios were obtained in the absence of rnase a and protease treatment . moreover , no signal amplification was required . two approaches were taken to establish that the dna of non - denatured fixed metaphase spreads and interphase nuclei prepared for tish are in a duplex state . one exploits fluorescent in situ hybridization ( fish ), which requires single - stranded targets . fish assays performed on non - denatured spreads and nuclei using a standard chromosome 17 d17z1 - specific ˜ 200 bp biotin - labeled probe produced neither centromere - specific nor non - specific fluorescent signals ( fig3 ). the other is based on the general chromosome staining intercalator propidium iodide ( pi ), which has higher affinity and exhibits greater fluorescence when bound to double - stranded ( ds ) than to single - stranded ( ss ) dna ( 16 ). counterstaining of tish - assayed non - denatured spreads and nuclei was performed at pi concentrations used for fish , in which case renaturation in 70 % formamide is not quantitative , and should yield a mixture of ds and ss dna . non - denatured tish spreads emitted significantly brighter pi fluorescence than renatured fish spreads . together , these observations confirm a duplex state for both chromosome 17 α - satellite and the totality of mitotic chromosomal dna on slides prepared for tish . a typical in situ hybridization of 5 ′- pso - tm 5 c - bio - 3 ′ to a non - denatured fixed metaphase spread and nuclei from a karyotypically normal 46 , xy male lymphocyte cell line is shown in fig4 a and b . detection did not require amplification . the two distinct centromere - specific yellow - green fluorescent spots identifying homologous chromosomes 17 in the metaphase spread and three interphase nuclei were reproduced in ˜ 90 % of all spreads and nuclei examined . the other 10 % emitted short - lived fluorescent signals that were not capturable due to quenching . more than 250 combined spreads and nuclei per individual examined ( 5 subjects in total ) were scored to ensure statistical significance . metaphase and prometaphase ( not shown ) chromosomes 17 were equally labeled . the spatial organization of the fluorescent signals in the three male subject nuclei , one peripherally located , the other more central , was consistent for the bulk of nuclei examined . the spreads and nuclei in fig4 a and b show the empirically determined fluorescence maximum observed after a 2 hour hybridization at 45 ° c . with 20 ng of probe . longer hybridizations with 20 ng or more probe did not elicit stronger fluorescent signals , while less time and / or probe produced weaker signals . under tish hybridization conditions , saturation of all accessible chromosome 17 α - satellite targets was reproducibly achieved within 2 hours . the specificity of third - strand probe binding to in situ mitotic chromosomes 17 was additionally confirmed . one approach involved mouse × human somatic cell hybrid metaphase spreads and nuclei containing a single human chromosome 17 . another involved tish competition assays , in which increasing concentrations of non - covalently modified third strand , 5 ′- tm 5 c - 3 ′, were added to compete against 5 ′- pso - tm 5 c - bio - 3 ′- specific binding . fig5 a and b show the centromere - specific third strand - based fluorescence of single human metaphase and interphase chromosome 17s in a mouse genomic background . a competition assay ( fig5 c ) demonstrates that when 5 ′- pso - tm 5 c - bio - 3 ′ is competed out , there is no non - specific binding to the remaining human mitotic chromosomes in spreads . third - strand in situ hybridizations were performed on non - denatured metaphase spreads and nuclei of 5 unrelated individuals , 4 male and 1 female . three centromere - specific chromosome 17 fluorescent signal patterns were recorded : (+ 17 /+ 17 homozygotes ) when each chromosome 17 homologue was labeled , (+ 17 /− 17 heterozygotes ) when only one homologue was labeled , and (− 17 /− 17 homozygotes ) when neither emitted detectable fluorescence . in contrast , all five individuals yielded detectable + 17 /+ 17 fish - based signals with a ˜ 200 bp biotin - labeled d17z1 α - satellite probe . fig6 a - d show contrasting tish and fish images for two signal patterns . the two variant forms of chromosome 17 (+ 17 and − 17 ) identified by tish represent at least two distinct d17z1 haplotypes . inter - and intra - homologue sequence variations identified within the d17z1 loci of chromosomes 17 can alter effective third - strand target copy number , and so could account for the two variant d17z1 haplotypes . inter - homologue sequence variations within α - satellite higher - order repeats of paired chromosomes 17 are characterized by single point mutations in either simple or restriction - enzyme sequences ( rflps ), and as differences in repeat length due to deletions of single or multiple contiguous ˜ 171 bp monomer units ( 8 , 17 - 19 ). data from warburton and willard ( 20 ) suggest that a partial explanation for the observed variations in third - strand binding to different d17z1 loci could be target sequence heterogeneity due to a single a → g transition mutation of the second residue ( counting 5 ′→ 3 ′) of the purine - rich target strand . 5 ′- pso - tm 5 c - bio - 3 ′ third - strand binding affinity would likely be significantly impaired by this mutation at the tish hybridization temperature of 45 ° c . since a t : g • c mismatch replaces a canonical t : a • t triplet . in fact , a single t : g • c mismatch in a similar y : r • y nearest neighbor environment prohibited third - strand binding at ambient and elevated temperatures ( 4 ). intra - homologue sequence variation within the megabase ∝- satellite array of individual chr . 17s ( 18 ) is characterized by highly amplified localized homogeneous domains containing one distinct type of higher - order repeat unit differing in either sequence or length from flanking repeat units . the existence within different chr . 17 ∝- satellite arrays of such domains containing the altered target sequence ( a → g transition ) flanked by repeats containing wild - type target sequences could , depending on their respective ratios , further account for the observed variability in third - strand binding . d17z1 loci having many fewer wild - type target sequences might be expected to exhibit reduced tish - based fluorescent signals or even none at all at 45 ° c . in this respect , tish affords a sensitivity not inherent in fish . third - strand probe binding to duplex targets in solution can be described by the following equilibrium : ts + d  ← → k 1  off k 2  on  ts   d where ts is the third strand , d is the duplex target , tsd the triplex , and k2on and k1off second - order association and first - order dissociation rate constants . when third strand concentration is in excess to a duplex target , and binding is strong , the reaction is essentially irreversible , and like watson - crick reassociation kinetics , pseudo - first - order . such is the case for third strand titrations to a duplex target of equal length , and to single targets contained within relatively large dna fragments (≦ 400 base pairs ) or supercoiled plasmids ( 3 ). for reactions involving such molecules , the equilibrium lies far to the right . the tish experiments described here demonstrate that a 16 residue third strand can bind with specificity to a unique multicopy centromeric target sequence on metaphase and interphase chr . 17s . this result suggests that solvent - exposed areas of non - denatured fixed mitotic chromosomes on slides are accessible to and explorable by third strands . the reproducibility of chr . 17 centromere - specific fluorescent labeling with high signal to noise ratios confirms that third strands can associate with specific chromosomal sequences and dissociate from non - specific ones on slides under solution conditions . this accessibility suggests that in such spreads there are no significant barriers to third strands directed to non -∝- satellite target sequences . 1 . g . felsenfeld and a . rich , biochim biophys acta 26 , 457 ( 1957 ); j . r . fresco and b . m . alberts , proc . natl . acad . sci . usa . 46 , 311 ( 1960 ); j . r . fresco , in informational macromolecules , h . j . vogel , v . bryson , and j . o . lampen , eds . 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