Analysis+of+a+Mutant+Hemoglobin+Gene

A mutation is a change in the nucleotide sequence of DNA, which leads to an inherited change in an organism. Restriction endonucleases provide valuable tools for characterizing mutations at the DNA level. This principle is illustrated in the exercise where students digest a normal and a mutant gene with EcoR1 and Hae III and then analyze the DNA fragments from each by electrophoresis as shown in the figure below. The gene is from rabbit and codes for the ß-globin chains of hemoglobin.