High sensitive approach for point mutation detection based on electrochemiluminescence

An electrochemiluminescence-polymerase chain reaction (ECL-PCR) method for point mutation detection has been developed. The target is amplified using a tris (bipyridine) ruthenium (TBR)-labeled forward and a biotinylated reverse primer. The amplification products are digested with specific restriction enzyme, then captured onto streptavidin-coated paramagnetic beads, and detected by measuring the ECL signal of the TBR label. The established technique was further applied to detect a specific point mutation in H-ras oncogene in T24 cell line. The results show that the system has a low detection limit of 100 fmol and a linear range of more than 3 orders of magnitude for H-ras amplicon; the two genotypes can be reliably discriminated. In summary, the mutant specific ECL-PCR method can be used to detect a point mutation that creates or destroys a restriction site in any gene. It is useful in single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) and mutation detection due to its safety, high sensitivity and simplicity.