Detection of basepair substitution mutation at a frequency of 1 x 10(-7) by combining two genotypic selection methods, MutEx enrichment and allele-specific competitive blocker PCR

The detection of rare mutations has many important applications, including risk assessment of drugs and chemicals, measuring environmental exposures to genotoxins, and cancer cell detection. A sensitive genotypic selection method has been developed that combines two different mutant allele selection techniques, MutEx enrichment and allele-specific competitive blocker PCR (ACB-PCR). This method was developed and evaluated for the detection of a CAA --> AAA mutation at codon 61 of the mouse H-ras gene. The MutEx enrichment is based on MutS binding to a mismatched basepair in heteroduplex DNA. The bound MutS protects the mutant allele from degradation during subsequent exonuclease treatment. ACB-PCR preferentially amplifies a mutant allele in a PCR reaction using a primer that has more mismatches to the wild-type allele than the mutant allele. By combining these two approaches, the codon 61 mutation was detected at mutant fractions as low as 1 in 10(7). This sensitivity was achieved with the thermostable Thermus aquaticus MutS protein but not the Escherichia coli MutS protein. Using the combined approach, the average Pfu DNA polymerase error rate +/- the standard error of the mean for this particular basepair was estimated to be 8 +/- 3 x 10(-7) errors per duplication. The results indicate that MutEx/ACB-PCR is among the most sensitive genotypic selection methods for the detection of mutation.