Quantitative analysis of the dystrophin gene by real-time PCR

Abstract

Duchenne and Becker muscular dystrophy (DMD/BMD) are severe X-linked neuromuscular disorders caused by mutations in the dystrophin gene. Our aim was to optimize a quantitative real-time PCR method based on SYBR ® Green I chemistry for routine diagnostics of DMD/BMD deletion carriers. Twenty female relatives of DMD/BMD patients with previously detected partial gene deletions were studied. The relative quantity of the target exons was calculated by a comparative threshold cycle method (ΔΔCt). The carrier status of all subjects was successfully determined. The gene dosage ratio for non-carriers was 1.07±0.20, and for carriers 0.56±0.11. This assay proved to be simple, rapid, reliable and cost-effective.