A collaboration between Canadian and US researchers has produced an extremely sensitive method for detecting genetic damage caused by ionizing radiation and carcinogenic chemicals.
The new technique uses antibodies that recognize specific forms of DNA damage. Those antibodies then are joined with others that emit fluorescent light and also attach to damaged areas of DNA. When mixed, the antibodies and DNA undergo capillary electrophoresis in which the sample is illuminated and the resulting fluorescence is monitored. The higher the light intensity, the more DNA damage there is.
In experiments reported in the May 15 issue of Science, the researchers said their method is 10000 to 100000 times more sensitive than other assays used to detect genetic damage from radiation. The method can detect a single defect in a DNA segment of 300 million base pairs, they reported.
