Method to Restore Genetic Information from Degraded DNA

An in vitro method can recover genetic information from previously unusable genetic materials for applications in gene-based target discovery, drug development, diagnostics, and forensics.

This whole genome restoration (WGR) can create new value in hundreds of DNA and tissue banks spread throughout the world by making it possible for researchers to use those archived samples to understand disease and develop new treatments. The service is offered by Rubicon Genomics, Inc. (Ann Arbor, MI, USA). The company's OmniPlex technology cannot physically reattach the tiny pieces of DNA in the correct order, but it can enable computers to reconstruct genetic information as originally presented in the tissue, using information from the Human Genome Project.

Applications include genotyping and sequencing, using biopsy samples to discover genes and mutations involved in disease, using aged samples of dried blood in clinical genomics, identifying noninvasive molecular diagnostics from degraded DNA in bodily fluids, and forensic identification from degraded samples of DNA.

"Everyone is aware of the fact that genetic materials from extinct animals and plants have been accidentally trapped in amber for millions of years,” said Dr. Vladimir Makarov, co-founder and chief scientific officer of Rubicon. "When physicians and surgeons biopsy patient tissue for the pathologist to examine, they have also trapped DNA information that is stable for tens or perhaps hundreds of years.”




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