Chalmers University of Technology other research news

University researchers reported in Nature that they have devised a rapid, inexpensive method for detecting single gene mutations. The method is useful where the mutations that cause the disease are known, and occur at no more than a few positions in the DNA.

The method uses peptide nucleic acid (PNA) as a probe in which the DNA ribose-phosphate backbone is replaced by its pseudo-peptide counterpart. The PNA probe rapidly hybridizes to its complementary DNA strand. The hybridization products can be readily separated by free-solution capillary electrophoresis, because the hybrid complex has a different ratio of electrical and frictional forces than native DNA. ...