Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

The Ligase Detection Reaction: The Evolution Of A Mutation Detection Strategy, Hannah D. Farquar

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Early detection of genetic mutations is important for control of diseases such as cancer and Alzheimer's. Early detection requires methods that detect small amounts of mutated DNA in very large amounts of normal or wild type DNA. One method to detect mutated DNA is the ligase detection reaction (LDR). Since its inception LDR has evolved greatly from a simple detection reaction after PCR amplification to PCR/RE/LDR, a scheme which uses nucleoside base analogs in PCR to convert wild type sequences to sequences containing restriction endonuclease (RE) sites which can then be cleaved leaving only mutant sequences for detection by LDR. …