About Genotyping
Genotyping is a technology that detects small genetic differences which can lead to changes in phenotypes, including physical differences and pathological changes to an underlying organism. There are countless uses for genotyping including scientific research, pathogen detection for medical healthcare professionals, agriculture, and beyond.
Genotyping determines differences by comparing a DNA sequences from one sample to that of another, or a referenced sequence. This targets genetic sequences like single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), and identifies minute variations in those sequences. These single base-pair changes in DNA occur at specific places in the genome are commonly pronounced as "snips."
There are more than 600 million SNPs in the human genome, which is the most common type of genetic variation in humans. These variations can explain differences such as hair color, eye color, or even inherited diseases, and the also act as markers which indicate a risk of developing complex diseases.
SNP Detection
Novel and known SNPs can be detected by different methods including DNA sequencing, mass spectrometry, PCR based methods, and sever others.
Why SNP genotyping?
Genotyping has many applications that can greatly impact our daily lives; however the most impactful one is disease association in microorganisms and viral pathogens. These organisms also have SNPs, and genotyping can differentiate between isolates and can characterize specific strains of resistance. Strain based detection is also relevant in clinical and agricultural research and is commonly used to study infectious diseases in humans, plants, and animal life.
Real-time PCR SNP Genotyping
Real-Time PCR analysis allows you to screen known SNPs during diagnostic testing. This process is easy, accurate, and is able to scale to the throughput needs of any diagnostic or research testing facility. Another key reason to utilize PCR testing is that the require result analysis is far less complex than that of other technologies. Additionally genotyping can be applied not just to humans, but also to any animal or plant species that has at least two paired chromosome sets.