ARMS is a generally applicable technique for the detection of known single-base substitutions or microdeletions/insertions. In this PCR based technique, one of the PCR primers precisely matches one allelic variant of the target sequence, but is mismatched to the other. When a mismatch occurs at or near the 3’ end of the PCR primer, preferential amplification of the perfectly matched allele is obtained [161]. This technique is known as amplification refractory mutation system (ARMS, [159]), allele-specific PCR (ASPCR, [157]), and allele-specific amplification (ASA, [158]).
ARMS can generally detect a single copy of a mutant allele in the presence of 40 copies of the normal allele. This method shows promise for population screening because the technique is rapid, reproducible, inexpensive, nonisotopic, and amenable to automation.
© 2001 Alexander Binder