| abstract |
In traditional plant breeding methods, chemical mutagenesis can be used to randomly introduce nucleotide substitutions in the plant genome, i.e. sites where it is impossible to control nucleotide changes. Due to the complexity of the genome, the statistical probability of finding a predetermined nucleotide substitution is extremely small. However, the present invention shows how to develop a new alternative use of digital polymerase chain reaction (dPCR), preferably droplet dPCR (ddPCR), for finding specific nucleotide substitutions in mutant genes. The entire platform includes screening methods with libraries of mutant organisms, digital PCR-based systems and devices for propagation and analysis of identified mutant organisms. |