Electrospray ionization quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry and quadrupole mass spectrometry for genotyping single nucleotide substitutions in intact polymerase chain reaction products in K-ras and p53

Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and mutations were genotyped for both homozygous and heterozygous PCR products of p53, a tumor suppressor gene, and K-ras, an oncogene, using electrospray ionization (ESI) quadrupole time-of-flight (Q-TOF) mass spectrometry (MS) and ESI-quadrupole MS analysis. Mass accuracy was adequate for both instruments to detect genetic changes in homozygous PCR products, including the most difficult to distinguish (adenine [A] --> thymine [T] transversion). However, for the detection of A --> T shifts (9.0 Da difference) in heterozygous PCR products, the increased resolution of ESI-Q-TOFMS proved essential. Although, greater mass differences in heterozygotes (e.g. cytosine [C] <--> T or guanine [G] <--> A) can be discriminated using ESI-quadrupole MS analysis.