Rapid diagnosis of the alpha-thalassemia-1 Southeast Asian type deletion using a single tube real-time SYBR-polymerase chain reaction combined with dissociation curve analysis.

Dear Sir, A single tube polymerase chain reaction (PCR) with three primers and SYBR GREEN1 combined with dissociation curve analysis was set up that can clearly differentiate between Hb Bart's hydrops fetalis, normal subjects and - -(SEA) heterozygotes. This method seems to be simpler than that using a two-tube real-time SYBR-PCR with two different primer sets followed by analyses of DeltaC(T) and C(T) ratio.