Spinal muscular atrophy （SMA） is a common Pautosomal recessive neuromuscular disorder （1in 6000 to 10 000 births） caused by mutations in the SMN1 gene at 5q13. More than 90%-98% of SMA patients show homozygous deletion of SMN1, which has proved to be useful in the diagnosis of SMA. But it is hampered because of the existence of a highly homologous gene, SMN2. Based on nucleotide mismatches between SMN1 and SMN2, the following two DNA tests are usually performed： single-strand conformational polymorphism （SSCP） and polymerase chain reaction （PCR） followed by a restriction enzyme digestion.In this study we developed a new method for rapid genetic diagnosis of SMA by denaturing high-performance liquid chromatography （DHPLC）, which is based on different retention of homoduplexes and heteroduplexes in detecting the homozygous deletion of SMN1. Both genetic and prenatal diagnoses were performed successfully for a SMA family by DHPLC, which was confirmed as a rapid and effective technique for detecting the deletion of SMN1.
