Mismatch repair detection (MRD): high-throughput scanning for DNA variations

Although there are several methods for genotyping previously identified sin gle nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), there is a paucity of approaches for h igh-throughput scanning for unknown variations. Mismatch repair detection ( MRD) utilizes a bacterial mismatch repair system in vivo to detect sequence variants in human DNA samples. We describe modifications in MRD that allow a high degree of parallel processing, and use this modified version to acc urately scan for variations in 35 different human DNA fragments simultaneou sly. MRD's potential for high-throughput scanning can be used to identify n ew SNPs and to comprehensively compare sequences between patients and contr ols for identifying disease susceptibility alleles.