L. Berti et al., Energy-transfer cassette labeling for capillary array electrophoresis short tandem repeat DNA fragment sizing, BIOCONJ CHE, 12(4), 2001, pp. 493-500
Energy-transfer (ET) dye-labeled primers significantly improve fluorescent
DNA detection because they permit excitation at a single common wavelength
and they produce well separated and intense acceptor dye emission. Recently
, a new ET cassette technology was developed [Berti, L. et al. (2001) Anal.
Biochem. 292, 188-197] that can be used to label any PCR, sequencing, or o
ther primer of interest. In this report we examine the utility of this ET c
assette technology by labeling seven different short tandem repeat (STR) sp
ecific primers with each of the four ET cassettes and analyzing the PCR pro
ducts generated on a MegaBACE-1000 capillary array electrophoresis system.
More than 60 amplicons were generated and successfully analyzed with the ET
cassette-labeled primers. Both forward and reverse primers were labeled fo
r multiplex PCR amplification and analysis. Single base pair resolution was
achieved with all four ET cassettes. This ET cassette-primer labeling proc
edure is ideally suited for creating four-color fluorescent ET primers for
STR and other DNA assays where large numbers of different loci are analyzed
including sequencing, genetic identification, gene mapping, loss of hetero
zygosity testing, and linkage analysis.