EVALUATION OF NONRADIOACTIVE LABELING AND DETECTION OF DEOXYRIBONUCLEIC ACIDS .2. COLORIGENIC METHODS AND COMPARISON WITH CHEMILUMINESCENT METHODS

The diagnosis of genetic infections and cancerous diseases is carried out more and more often at a molecular level using Southern's techniqu e which is based on the use of P-32-labelled DNA. In order to circumve nt the risks and rapid decrease in radioactivity associated with these latter techniques, new colorigenic methods have been developed. In th is work, we describe the use of dTTP analogues (digoxigenin-dUTP and b iotin-dUTP) for the labelling of probes and detection of target DNA. U sing digoxigenin-11-dUTP, 0.1 aM of a 561 bp target DNA was defected b y using a modified Southern procedure. The reliability and the high se nsitivity of such methods make them a good tool for DNA investigation in research as well as in testing laboratories.