University of California

Dna Sciences, Inc.

Su-Chun Hung

Richard A Mathies

Alexander N Glazer

Jingyue Ju

The present invention provides methods and kits for identifying nucleotides at a variant site in a target molecule by forming fluorescence resonance energy transfer labeled product. The location and type of fluorescent labels in the labeled product provide strong signals and relatively high spectral purity that facilitate detection. Utilizing various secondary labels and different combinations of acceptor and donor labels, certain methods permit multiple analyses to be conducted simultaneously and at high throughput. The methods can be used in a variety of applications such as analyzing point mutations and single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). In addition, the methods have utility in other applications in which specific sequence information is of value, including detection of pathogens, paternity disputes, prenatal testing and forensic analysis.

Detection of nucleotide sequence variation through fluorescence resonance energy transfer label generation

Cyanine dyes are used as the donor fluorophore in energy transfer labels in which light energy is absorbed by a donor fluorophore and transferred to an acceptor fluorophore which responds to the transfer by emitting fluorescent light for detection. The cyanine dyes impart an unusually high sensitivity to the labels thereby improving their usefulness in a wide variety of biochemical procedures, particularly nucleic acid sequencing, nucleic acid fragment sizing, and related procedures.

Growing community of inventors

Richmond, CA, United States of America

Su-Chun Hung