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Ole Brandt

Publications and source records attributed to Ole Brandt.

4 recordsLinked to original sources

Peptide nucleic acids on microarrays and other biosensors.

The analysis of biomolecules using microarrays and other biosensors has a significant role in molecular biotechnology, and will become even more important in the future as a versatile tool for research and diagnostics. For many applications, the synthetic DNA mimic peptide nucleic acid (PNA) could be advantageous as a probe molecule, owing to its unique physicochemical and biochemical properties. PNA exhibits superior hybridization characteristics and improved chemical and enzymatic stability relative to nucleic acids. Furthermore, its different molecular structure enables new modes of detection, especially procedures that avoid the introduction of a label. In our opinion, all of these factors contribute significantly toward the establishment of faster and more reliable analytical processes and opens new fields of application.

Algorithms↗

Peptide nucleic acid microarrays.

A fast and economical procedure for the production of peptide nucleic acid (PNA) microarrays is presented. PNA oligomers are synthesized in a fully automatic manner in 96-well plates using standard Fmoc chemistry. Subsequently, the oligomers are released from the support and spotted onto glass or silicone slides, which were activated by succinimidyl ester. This process allows for a concomitant purification of the oligomers directly on the chip surface. Although the terminal primary amino groups of the full-length products bind selectively to this surface, none of the byproducts of synthesis, such as truncated sequences or cleaved side chain protection groups, will bind and are therefore washed away. In this chapter, protocols are presented for the whole production process as well as sample hybridization.

Nucleic Acid Hybridization↗

PNA microarrays for hybridisation of unlabelled DNA samples.

Several strategies have been developed for the production of peptide nucleic acid (PNA) microarrays by parallel probe synthesis and selective coupling of full-length molecules. Such microarrays were used for direct detection of the hybridisation of unlabelled DNA by time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry. PNAs were synthesised by an automated process on filter-bottom microtitre plates. The resulting molecules were released from the solid support and attached without any purification to microarray surfaces via the terminal amino group itself or via modifications, which had been chemically introduced during synthesis. Thus, only full-length PNA oligomers were attached whereas truncated molecules, produced during synthesis because of incomplete condensation reactions, did not bind. Different surface chemistries and fitting modifications of the PNA terminus were tested. For an examination of coupling selectivity, bound PNAs were cleaved off microarray surfaces and analysed by MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry. Additionally, hybridisation experiments were performed to compare the attachment chemistries, with fully acetylated PNAs spotted as controls. Upon hybridisation of unlabelled DNA to such microarrays, binding events could be detected by visualisation of phosphates, which are an integral part of nucleic acids but missing entirely in PNA probes. Overall best results in terms of selectivity and sensitivity were obtained with thiol-modified PNAs on maleimide surfaces.

Base Sequence↗

Molecular haplotyping at high throughput.

Reconstruction of haplotypes, or the allelic phase, of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) is a key component of studies aimed at the identification and dissection of genetic factors involved in complex genetic traits. In humans, this often involves investigation of SNPs in case/control or other cohorts in which the haplotypes can only be partially inferred from genotypes by statistical approaches with resulting loss of power. Moreover, alternative statistical methodologies can lead to different evaluations of the most probable haplotypes present, and different haplotype frequency estimates when data are ambiguous. Given the cost and complexity of SNP studies, a robust and easy-to-use molecular technique that allows haplotypes to be determined directly from individual DNA samples would have wide applicability. Here, we present a reliable, automated and high-throughput method for molecular haplotyping in 2 kb, and potentially longer, sequence segments that is based on the physical determination of the phase of SNP alleles on either of the individual paternal haploids. We demonstrate that molecular haplotyping with this technique is not more complicated than SNP genotyping when implemented by matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionisation mass spectrometry, and we also show that the method can be applied using other DNA variation detection platforms. Molecular haplotyping is illustrated on the well-described beta(2)-adrenergic receptor gene.

Alleles↗