從方法學角度來看,獲得高覆蓋率高保真性的全基因組擴增產物是準確全面的測序結果的保障。多重置換擴增(multiple displacement amplification,MDA)利用隨機引物和等溫擴增可以獲得高保真的DNA大片段,但該方法的主要缺陷在於非平衡的基因組覆蓋率、擴增偏倚、嵌合序列及非特異擴增等[1]。儘管各種改進的策略正在逐步減少這些缺陷,高覆蓋率、高保真性及高特異性的擴增仍然是亟待解決的問題。另外,還有科研人員利用DOP-PCR進行全基因組擴增(whole-genomeamplification,WGA)及DNA測序對單個乳腺癌細胞進行了拷貝數變異的分析,進而推斷出細胞的群體結構和腫瘤的進化過程。但是由於該方法的基因覆蓋率較低,而且不能在單個核苷酸的解析度上評價單個腫瘤細胞的遺傳學特徵,故並不能檢測在腫瘤發展過程中發揮重要作用的單個核苷酸的改變。2012年,哈佛大學謝曉亮院士在《Science》發表了單細胞全基因組擴增新技術MALBAC(Multiple Annealing and Looping Based Amplification Cycles,簡稱MALBAC),即多次退火環狀循環擴增技術[2] [3]。不同於以往的非線性或指數型擴增方法,MALBAC技術利用特殊引物,使得擴增子的結尾互補而成環,從而很大程度上防止了DNA的指數性擴增,從而解決了基因組擴增對微量初始模板過大的擴增偏倚,並使基因組測序的模板需求量從µg級降至單細胞水平。MALBAC技術原理如下:
圖1:MALBAC技術原理
MALBAC Primers having a 27-ntcommon sequence followed by eight random nucleotides are annealed to thegenomic DNA template. Strand-displacement synthesis generates partialamplicons, which are subsequently denatured from the template at 94°C. Primingto new positions on the genomic DNA template generates more partial amplicons,which increases coverage of the genome with a resulting reduction inamplification bias. Priming nad extension on the partial amplicons yield completeamplicons having the MALBAC primer sequence at 5’ end and its complementarysequence at the 3’ end. Denaturation at 94°C regenerates the original templateand a now larger and more diverse pool of partial amplicoms. Full ampliconsform loops, which may be resistant to subsequent amplification andhybirdization. Full amplicons are generated for eight cycles and theexponentially amplified by about 14-21 cycles using primers complementary tothe common region of the MALBAC primers.
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