Abstract
Time of flight mass spectrometry offers an extremely rapid and accurate alternative to gel electrophoresis for sizing DNA fragments in the Sanger sequencing process, if large single-stranded DNA molecules can be volatilized and ionized without fragmentation. A process based on pulsed laser ablation of thin frozen films of DNA solutions has been shown to ablate intact DNA molecules up to ≈400 kDa in mass, and also has been shown to yield molecular ions of single-stranded DNA up to ≈18 500 Da. The theoretical basis and the progress to date in this approach are described and the potential impact of mass spectrometry on large-scale DNA sequencing is discussed.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 335-344 |
Number of pages | 10 |
Journal | International Journal of Mass Spectrometry and Ion Processes |
Volume | 131 |
Issue number | C |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Feb 24 1994 |
Keywords
- DNA
- Laser ablation
- Sequencing
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Spectroscopy