Possibilities and limitation of prenatal diagnosis and carrier determination for Duchenne and Becker muscular dystrophy using cDNA probes.

Two cDNA probes, cf23a and cf56a, identify deletions of selected exons in about 50% of our DMD/BMD patients. We have estimated the most likely order of the 11 exons detectable with both probes with respect to the different extensions of the deletions. In one of our BMD pedigrees, the observed deletion could be traced in the affected males through three generations.