Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!bonnie.concordia.ca!uunet!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!sdd.hp.com!caen!uwm.edu!bionet!STAR.STANFORD.EDU!JMILLER%VXBIO.SPAN From: JMILLER%VXBIO.SPAN@STAR.STANFORD.EDU Newsgroups: bionet.molbio.methds-reagnts Subject: oligo mutations Message-ID: <9106132327.AA10884@largo.ig.com> Date: 14 Jun 91 00:27:41 GMT Sender: daemon@genbank.bio.net Distribution: bionet Lines: 13 In our lab, we have made >250 mutagenic oligos in the last year. One can get dowstream mutants, usually deletions, if (1)the oligo sequence has homology to something downstream, and (2)it is a fairly long oligo >30 bases. Short oligos with one or two mismatches should never cause any trouble. Long oligos, especially if they have a repetitive sequence such as GLY-ALA-GLY-ALA frequently cause secondary insertions/deletions both at the mutagenic site, and downstream. For some very large replacements we are doing (ie., 10 amino acids) it was necessary to screen the mutants for function prior to sequencing. This gets rid of all the deletion/insertion mutants. Point mutations downstream don't seem to happen. -Peter Markiewicz