Chemical gradient-mediated melting curve analysis for genotyping of SNPs.

This report describes a microfluidic solid-phase chemical gradient-mediated melting curve analysis method for SNP analysis. The method is based on allele-specific denaturation to discriminate mismatched (MM) from perfectly matched (PM) DNA duplexes upon exposure to linear chemical gradient. PM and MM DNA duplexes conjugated on beads are captured in a microfluidic gradient generator device designed with dams, keeping the beads trapped perpendicular to a gradient generating channel. Two denaturants, formamide and urea, were tested for their ability to destabilize the DNA duplex by competing with Watson-Crick pairing. Upon exposure to the chemical gradient, rapid denaturing profile was monitored in real time using fluorescence microscopy. The results show that the two duplexes exhibit different kinetics of denaturation profiles, enabling discrimination of MM from PM DNA duplexes to score SNP.