The human MitoChip: A high-throughput sequencing microarray for mitochondrial mutation detection

Somatic mitochondrial mutations are common in human cancers, and can be used as a tool for early detection of cancer. We have developed a mitochondrial Custom Reseq(TM) microarray as an array-based sequencing platform for rapid and high-throughput analysis of mitochondrial DNA. The MitoChip contains oligonucleotide probes synthesized using standard photolithography and solid-phase synthesis, and is able to sequence >29 kb of double-stranded DNA in a single assay. Both strands of the entire human mitochondrial coding sequence (15,451 bp) are arrayed on the MitoChip; both strands of an additional 12,935 bp (84% of coding DNA) are arrayed in duplicate. We used 300 ng of genomic DNA to amplify the mitochondrial coding sequence in three overlapping long PCR fragments. We then sequenced >2 million base pairs of mitochondrial DNA, and successfully assigned base calls at 96.0% of nucleotide positions. Replicate experiments demonstrated >99.99% reproducibility. In matched fluid samples (urine and pancreatic juice, respectively) obtained from five patients with bladder cancer and four with pancreatic cancer, the MitoChip detected at least one cancer-associated mitochondrial mutation in six (66%) of nine samples. The MitoChip is a high-throughput sequencing tool for the reliable identification of mitochondrial DNA Mutations from primary tumors in clinical samples.