Selective analysis of cell-free DNA in maternal blood for evaluation of fetal trisomy.

Objective: To develop a novel prenatal assay based on selective analysis of cell-free DNA in maternal blood for evaluation of fetal Trisomy 21 (T21) and Trisomy 18 (T18).

Methods: Two hundred ninety-eight pregnancies, including 39 T21 and seven T18 confirmed fetal aneuploidies, were analyzed using a novel, highly multiplexed assay, termed digital analysis of selected regions (DANSR™). Cell-free DNA from maternal blood samples was analyzed using DANSR assays for loci on chromosomes 21 and 18.

Assessing DNA sequence variations in human ESTs in a phylogenetic context using high-density oligonucleotide arrays.

We have analyzed human genomic diversity in 32 individuals representing four continental populations of Homo sapiens in the context of four ape species. We used DNA resequencing chips covering 898 expressed sequence tags (ESTs), corresponding to 109 kb of sequence. Based on the intra-species data, the neutral hypothesis could not be rejected.