An overview of the use of SNaPshot for predicting blood group antigens.

The use of SNaPshot (Applied Biosystems, Foster City, CA) for predicting blood group antigens has emerged as an alternative to hemagglutination testing and also to the current low- and highthroughput blood group genotyping methods. Several groups have developed multiplex-polymerase chain reaction SNaPshot assays to determine single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in blood group genes with the purpose of identifying clinically relevant antigens and rare alleles. The selection of SNPs is based on the population or laboratory reality and the purpose of the genatyping. Unlike high-throughput genotyping strategies that are provided as commercial platforms, the SNPs can be chosen to best meet the needs of the user, and the interpretation of the results do not depend on the manufacturer.