High throughput screening of mutagenized populations

Abstract

Efficient methods are disclosed for the high throughput identification of mutations in genes in members of mutagenized populations. The methods comprise DNA isolation, pooling, amplification, creation of libraries, high throughput sequencing of libraries, preferably by sequencing-by-synthesis technologies, identification of mutations and identification of the member of the population carrying the mutation and identification of the mutation.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0001]1. Field of the Invention[0002]The present invention, in the fields of molecular biology and genetics relates to improved strategies for identifying mutations in populations, based on the use of high throughput sequencing technologies. The invention further provides for kits that can be applied in the methods.[0003]2. Description of the Background Art[0004]Populations carrying mutations, either induced or naturally occurring are used in modern genomics research to identify genes affecting traits of importance by reverse genetics approaches. This is in particular applicable for plants and crops of agronomic importance, but such populations are also useful, for other organisms such as yeast, bacteria etc. Other organisms, such as animals, birds, mammals etc can also be used, but these populations are typically more cumbersome to obtain or to control. Nevertheless, it is observed that the invention described herein is of a very general nature, and can b...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0024]The present inventors found that using high throughput sequencing strategies, the above-mentioned goals were achieved and mutagenized populations, such as TILLING populations, populations wherein mutations have been introduced using (synthetic) mutagenic or DNA damaging oligonucleotides or, i.e. by Targeted Nucleotide Exchange (TINE) or by Region Targeted Mutagenesis (RTM), or populations that contain naturally occurring mutations such as Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), small insertions and deletions, and variations in microsatellite repeat number could be efficiently screened for the presence of mutations of interest.DEFINITIONS

[0035]“High-throughput screening” (HITS) is a method of scientific experimentation especially relevant to the fields of biology and chemistry. Through a combination of modern robotics and other specialized laboratory hardware, ITS allows an investigator to effectively screen large numbers of samples simultaneously (or virtually simultaneously).

[0037]“Primers with increased affinity” are primers with modified nucleotides such as PNA or LNA, which increases their thermal stability and allows for allele-specific amplification based on single nucleotide sequence differences. In order to achieve this, one or several modified nucleotides are often included, preferably at the 3′-end of the primer.

Problems solved by technology

Other organisms, such as animals, birds, mammals etc can also be used, but these populations are typically more cumbersome to obtain or to control.

The rate-limiting step is the screening work associated with identification of, respectively, organisms carrying a mutation in the gene of interest.

The challenge therefore is to identify one (or several) plants with loss-of-function mutations in this gene.

However, a limitation of CEL I screening is that not all identified mutations affect gene function (e.g., silent substitutions) and this is not known until the PCR products of individual plants in a positive pool are sequenced.

Nevertheless, the CEL I mediated screening method is cost-saving compared to sequencing PCR products of all plants separately.

Another limitation is that CEL I screening involves running gels and scoring, a relatively cumbersome process that requires confirmation of mutations from the second strand as gel-patterns are not always clear-cut.

A third disadvantage is that CEL I screening is relatively insensitive to mutation detection at the termini of the PCR product which may lead to some mutations going undetected.

Further disadvantages of CEL I are that it has been found that the enzyme is extremely sensitive to reaction conditions such as salt concentrations.

This makes that the enzyme can only be used in a limited number of buffers, thereby hampering the broad use of CEL I. Another practical disadvantage associated with the application of CEL I is that the enzyme is not reliable in cutting all mismatched heteroduplexes.

Finally, CEL I screening is incapable of distinguishing missense mutations (which are the most prevalent) from non-sense mutations, causing a great deal of screening work carried out on positive pools without yielding interesting mutations.

Although theoretically possible, mutagenized populations are not commonly used this way.

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