Enzymatic Amplification of β-Globin Genomic Sequences and Restriction Site Analysis for Diagnosis of Sickle Cell Anemia

Abstract

Two new methods were used to establish a rapid and highly sensitive prenatal diagnostic test for sickle cell anemia. The first involves the primer-mediated enzymatic amplification of specific β-globin target sequences in genomic DNA, resulting in the exponential increase (220,000 times) of target DNA copies. In the second technique, the presence of the β A and β S alleles is determined by restriction endonuclease digestion of an end-labeled oligonucleotide probe hybridized in solution to the amplified β-globin sequences. The β-globin genotype can be determined in less than 1 day on samples containing significantly less than 1 microgram of genomic DNA.