Target mutation analysis
Sequencing is restricted to an area of interest where either special protein function are coded or mutation hot spots are located.
Only in the region of interest, known and new missense, nonsense and splice mutations can be detected.
The efforts can be focused a short sequence. This substantially reduces the cost and saves time.
Relevant mutations outside this area can not be exclude. These mutations include nonsense, frameshift, and splice mutations.
This method is appropriate for well described genes with mutation hot spots and conserved sequence segments. If searching for a gain-of-function mutation, this the method is the first choice because usually only few amino acid changes can be responsible and nonsense, frameshift, and splice mutations are most likely to cause loss-of-function mutations.
This method is also used for altered function of receptor binding sites, sites of activation or
deactivation, and catalytic centres.
The cost correlates with the number of sequenced segments, which are seldom more than 3, so the turn-around time is about a week.