Reverse Southern analysis

Molecular analysis by Southern blotting and reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) did not reveal any abnormalities of the CaR gene in DNA derived from normal or cancerous human colon mucosa (Kallay et al. 2003). The absence of even a single point mutation indicated that also in colon carcinoma cells, the CaR gene encodes a functional CaR molecule. 

Strategies to experimentally detect translocations are important because of the numerous cases of genes in leukemia-associated translocations. Such methods include Southern blot analysis, which is not as sensitive as PCR, karyotype analysis and fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) with specific probes. Reverse transcriptase (RT)-PCR with gene-specific primers detects only a fraction of translocations because there are no primers available for many of the genes involved. 

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