Allele specific oligonucleotide

Allele Specific Oligonucleotides (ASOs) are short sequences of single stranded DNA that are complimentary to DNA sequences of specific alleles. ASOs can be radioactively labeled and used as probes to test for the presence of specific alleles in an individual's genome, namely diseased alleles. In an autoradiogram for an ASO test, a positive result signifies that the ASO probe was able to bind to the target DNA and that the allele of interest is present on one or both of the individual's chromosomes.