Sunday April 11, 1999

COMPANY PRESS RELEASE

New WAVE® HS DNA Fragment Analysis System Introduced at AACR '99

The WAVE® HS DNA Fragment Analysis System combines the power of Transgenomic's Temperature Modulate Heteroduplex Analysis (TMHA) methodology with the sensitivity and accuracy of fluorescence detection.

PHILADELPHIA, PA at the American Association for Cancer Research ’99 Conference — Transgenomic, Inc. has expanded its solutions for DNA analysis with the introduction of the WAVE® HS DNA Fragment Analysis System. The WAVE® HS DNA Fragment Analysis System provides an automated, turn-key approach for efficient scanning for mutations in genes involved in carcinogenesis and neoplastic growth.

The WAVE® HS DNA Fragment Analysis System combines the proven performance of Temperature Modulated Heteroduplex Analysis (TMHA)¹ methodology with the high sensitivity and accuracy of fluorescence detection. The fluorescence TMHA method is a powerful tool for detection of unknown mutations in heterogeneous tumor samples. In samples where a mutated allele may be masked by a 500-fold excess of wild-type allele, the fluorescently-labeled mutant heteroduplexes produced by the TMHA method are easily detected by the WAVE® HS DNA Fragment Analysis System. The non-gel approach of the WAVE® HS DNA Fragment Analysis System makes its technology extremely attractive for high-throughput projects in cancer research.^2,3

Both temperature and chromatographic conditions are accurately predicted by the WAVE® HS DNA Fragment Analysis System's WAVEMAKER™ utility software. FAM and ROX fluorescent dyes are compatible with the TMHA method and enhance sensitivity of mutation detection considerably. Fragments isolated with the WAVE® HS DNA Fragment Analysis System's Fragment Collector are immediately available for direct sequencing, PCR amplification, and cloning.

Description of Temperature Modulated Heteroduplex Analysis (TMHA) Methodology: the TMHA method employs the formation of heteroduplexes between wild-type (reference) and mutated DNA, which are efficiently separated on the WAVE® HS DNA Fragment Analysis System.

Mutations are apparent as changes in the signal/peak profile at the temperature of differential melting. Temperatures, precisely maintained by the system oven, mediate partial melting (denaturation) of the heteroduplexes at mismatch sites. The presence of a melted, single-stranded domain in a heteroduplex leads to decreased retention on the micropellicular matrix of the WAVE® HS DNA Fragment Analysis System's DNASep® analytical cartridge relative to the double-stranded homoduplex. A more complete description can be found in the literature⁴ or from Transgenomic, Inc.

References

1. Hecker, K. et al., Mutation detection by denaturing ion-pair reversed-phase high performance liquid chromatography using fluorescently labeled PCR products. (In press).
2. Wagner, T. et al. International Journal of Cancer, 1998, 77: 354-360.
3. Yokomizo, A. et al. Oncogene, 1998, 17: 475-479
4. Kuklin, A. et al. Genetic Testing, 1997/98, 1: 201-206.

Transgenomic, Inc., is a leading-edge designer and manufacturer of state-of-the-art scientific instruments. Transgenomic’s advances in biotechnology offer enabling DNA fragment separation for mutation screening, functional genomics and genotyping for applications in basic research, diagnostics and forensics in over 100 laboratories worldwide. WAVE and DNASep are registered trademarks and WAVEMAKER is a trademark of Transgenomic, Inc.

For more information contact info@transgenomic.com.