Technology
The Process – Detecting DNA Modifications
Genomic Vision has invented the Genomic Morse Code (GMC), a sequence specific probe design strategy, to enable rapid and accurate identification of structural sequence changes between a normal (reference) and an abnormal genome.
Single or multiple genetic markers can be detected using fluorescently-labeled DNA probes which are hybridized on combed DNA and detected by fluorescence microscopy. Direct measurement of the probe and space length is possible due to the constant stretching factor (2 kb/μm) and allows the identification of parts of a locus of interest. This straightforward approach enables probes to be designed that are readily distinguishable on combed DNA, e.g., using different colored fluorescent tags and/or lengths. Depending on the GMC, rearrangements of all kinds can be detected: amplification, deletions, repeat arrays, inversions and translocations.
Using this GMC approach it is possible to cover several megabases in DNA replication studies, or to study rearrangements in a region tens of megabases long – potentially on a whole-genome scale.
