Developing a Protocol for Rapid Identification of SNPs Associated with Dyslexia.
J Alaimo, M Susek, J George, *A Yezerski, and J Coffin.

Recent studies have suggested that cerebellar function is impaired in individuals with dyslexia. Eye-blink conditioning is a method to measure cerebellar function and may discriminate between dyslexic and non-dyslexic individuals. Many susceptibility loci have been identified on 8 different chromosomes, indicating a strong genetic component for dyslexia. Specifically, KIAA0319, a locus on chromosome 6, containing two SNPs, have shown a significant relationship to a dyslexia diagnosis, but is undefined in molecular function. The ultimate goal of our research is to compare the results of cerebellar function testing to the SNPs known to be associated to dyslexia. This genotype to phenotype study will help to elucidate the molecular mechanism behind this impairment as well as clarify the efficacy of these specific methods for dyslexia diagnosis. To that end, we have developed a molecular genetic protocol for genotyping individuals tested by eye-blink conditioning. Additionally we developed a nested PCR method for genotyping DNA of low quality. Having created these consistent and sensitive genotyping methods, we have begun to compare our results to the outcomes of the eyeblink conditioning. Our preliminary data suggests a relationship between the SNPs and eye-blink conditioning. Further work could better automate the genotyping process by using fluorescent primers and fragment analysis via an automated DNA sequencer.

RAPD-PCR as a Novel Method for DNA Fingerprinting.
M E Brice, *A Yezerski.

The specificity of "DNA Fingerprinting" techniques may be the root of their shortcomings. These methods use long primers to target specific variable loci which comprise less than 0.01% of the total genome. While these analyses are powerful, they may fall short when the compared DNA's are similar. Our research explored the efficacy of a potentially more comprehensive method, RAPD-PCR. While RAPD's are less specific, they do increase the proportion of the genome analyzed in the process. Our research compared the RAPD profiles using three replicates of eight tissue samples from three genetically diverse mice. Some areas of variability in the profiles indicated that this method can detect even the small mutational differences that might accrue within the same individual.