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dc.contributor.advisorWilliam G. Thilly.en_US
dc.contributor.authorKim, Andrea Seungsun, 1971-en_US
dc.contributor.otherMassachusetts Institute of Technology. Division of Bioengineering and Environmental Health.en_US
dc.date.accessioned2008-11-10T20:01:29Z
dc.date.available2008-11-10T20:01:29Z
dc.date.copyright2002en_US
dc.date.issued2002en_US
dc.identifier.urihttp://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/8306en_US
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/8306
dc.descriptionThesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Division of Bioengineering and Environmental Health, 2002.en_US
dc.descriptionIncludes bibliographical references (leaves 176-200).en_US
dc.description.abstractThe study of human mutagenesis requires methods of measuring somatic mutations in normal human tissues and inherited mutations in human populations. Such methods should permit measurement of rare mutations in the presence of abundant wild-type copies and should be general to the human genome. A sensitivity of 2 x 10-6 for point mutations was recently achieved in human cells using a novel method of target isolation, constant denaturant capillary electrophoresis (CDCE), and high-fidelity polymerase chain reaction (hifi-PCR) (Li-Sucholeiki and Thilly, 2000). This method is applicable to 100-base pair (bp) DNA domains juxtaposed with a naturally occurring domain of a higher melting temperature, or a natural clamp. Such sequence domains represent about 9% of the human genome. To permit analysis of rare point mutations in the human genome more generally, this thesis developed a procedure in which a clamp can be ligated to any 100-bp sequence of interest. This procedure was combined with the previous method to create a new method of point mutational analysis that is not dependent on a naturally occurring clamp. To demonstrate the new method, a sequence with a natural clamp, a part of the human hypoxanthine-guanine phosphoribosyl transferase (HPRT) gene (cDNA-bp 223-318), was analyzed using both the natural and ligated clamps. A sensitivity of 2 x 10-5 in human cells was demonstrated using the ligated clamp as opposed to 5 x 10-6 using the natural clamp.en_US
dc.description.abstract(cont.) The sensitivity of the new method using the ligated clamp was demonstrated to be limited by the fidelity of Pfu DNA polymerase used for PCR. The sequence of the ligated clamp accounted for the differences in sensitivity as a result of causing a decreased efficiency of mutant enrichment by CDCE. The new method can be applied to measure somatic mutations in normal human tissues, such as lung tissues, in which point mutations at fractions above 10-5 have been observed. This method can also detect predominant inherited mutations even for genes carrying recessive deleterious alleles in pooled samples derived from a large number of individuals.en_US
dc.description.statementofresponsibilityby Andrea Seungsun Kim.en_US
dc.format.extent200 leavesen_US
dc.language.isoengen_US
dc.publisherMassachusetts Institute of Technologyen_US
dc.rightsMIT theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed, downloaded, or printed from this source but further reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission.en_US
dc.rights.urihttp://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/8306en_US
dc.rights.urihttp://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582en_US
dc.subjectDivision of Bioengineering and Environmental Health.en_US
dc.titleA clamp ligation method for point mutational spectrometry : marked increase in scanning range for the human genomeen_US
dc.typeThesisen_US
dc.description.degreePh.D.en_US
dc.contributor.departmentMassachusetts Institute of Technology. Division of Bioengineering and Environmental Healthen_US
dc.contributor.departmentMassachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Biological Engineering
dc.identifier.oclc50445036en_US


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