Direct detection and automated sequencing of individual alleles after electrophoretic strand separation: identification of a common nonsense mutation in exon 9 of the human lipoprotein lipase gene

Abstract
Large-scale screening by direct sequencing of DNA to detect molecular variants remains a laborious endeavor whose difficulty is compounded by heterozygosity. We show that mobility shifts of single-stranded DNA electrophoresed under nondenaturing conditions can be used not only to detect variants (Orita,M. et al., 1989, Genomics, 5, 874–879), but also to separate and sequence directly individual alleles. In this manner, we have identified a common variant of human lipoprotein lipase resulting from a nonsense mutation in exon 9 of the gene. Whether this variant is of functional significance remains to be determined.