Abstract

rs1801133 is a single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) located in the sequence of MTHFR on human chromosome 1. The alleles of this SNP affect the activity of the MTHFR enzyme. People bearing C/T genotype have 66% activity of MTHFR while people with T/T genotype have only 25% activity. These reduced activities of MTHFR cause homocysteinemia. There are several publications on the relationship between homocysteinemia and human diseases such as cardiovascular disease, neurological diseases, abnormal fetus, infertility and cancer. In this study, we built a molecular protocol for genotyping rs1801133 using real-time PCR HRM technique. This protocol could be used for diagnosis of molecular mechanism of homocysteinemia causing the mentoned above diseases as well as for the study of the relationship between rs1801133 and other human diseases. We successfully designed the primer pairs for genotyping and nucleotide sequencing rs1801133 by real-time PCR HRM and Sanger sequencing method. We also examined the optimal MgCl2 concentration for clear differentiation of three rs1801133 genotypes. Performance characteristics of the real-time PCR HRM protocol included of specificity, repeatability, reproducibility was evaluated and it showed good results. Comparison of genotyping results of rs1801133 between the realtime PCR HRM method and the Sanger nucleotide sequencing method showed good concordances. Finally, this real-time PCR HRM protocol for rs1801133 genotyping was applied on 100 human DNA samples to evaluate the clinical utility of the protocol.