Bioluminescent reporters for identification of gene allelic variants

A method for single nucleotide polymorphism identification was developed, which was based on the primer extension reaction (PEXT) followed by bioluminescent solid-phase microassay. Recombinant Ca2+-regulated photoprotein obelin and coelenterazine-dependent Renilla muelleri luciferase were used as reporters. The study was performed as an example of SNP genotyping of the human F5 gene encoding human Factor V Leiden polymorphism 1691 G -> A (R506Q). Genomic DNA was amplified by PCR using primers flanking polymorphic site of 140 base pairs. PCR products were used as templates for two PEXT reactions using two primers containing 3'-terminal nucleotides, which were complementary to either normal or mutant alleles. If the template and allele-specific primer were completely complementary, the latter was elongated with DNA polymerase. The resulting extension product contained biotin residue due to the presence of biotinylated deoxyuridine triphosphate (B-dUTP) in the reaction mixture. The products were analyzed using obelin-streptavidin conjugates. The optimal PEXT-reaction conditions were found, which ensured a high reliability of SNP genotyping. A new approach to simultaneously revealing both alleles in one well was developed using two bioluminescent reporters. The efficiency of the proposed approach was shown in the study of clinical DNA samples.