MutScreener: primer design tool for PCR-direct sequencing

In searching for susceptibility genes, both positional cloning and candidate gene strategies have been helpful. Mutation screening is one of the many technologies that have been implemented in order to identify mutations or polymorphisms in candidate genes or genomic regions. Since human genome sequence is available, PCR-direct sequencing is one of the major methods for mutation screening or resequencing. Unfortunately, assay design can be laborious if multiple genes or large regions need to be investigated. To solve this conundrum a web-based application, MutScreener, has been developed. MutScreener assists in the analysis of human gene structure and design of PCR/sequencing primer. This application supports batch assay design based on either existing public gene annotation or custom gene annotation. The optional universal tagged primers can support high throughput resequencing processes. MutScreener is available for public use at http://bioinfo.bsd.uchicago.edu/MutScreener.html.