Determination of low-abundance single-base point mutations based on endonuclease IV and branch migration system

Abstract Combining endonuclease IV and branch migration competition systems, we have designed a new single-base mutation detection method which is capable of thermostatic, sensitive, simple, and cost-effective at the same time, while other probe method based on endonuclease IV hardly achieve. Our method has better discrimination factors (6.81–83.10) and a low abundance detection limit of mutant-type DNA (MT) (0.05% mutant-type DNA/total DNA) without complex temperature optimize process. The concentration detection limit of MT is 0.03 nM.The abundance detection limit for EGFR L858R (0.1%) and PTEN R130Q (0.05%) in clinical samples suggested that the method has potential applications in clinical diagnosis.