Parentage and Pedigree Analysis By Genetic Bit Analysis

Our company will develop a human parentage test incorporating significant improvements inutility, reliability, and cost effectiveness over currently available parentage tests. The test will be basedon enzymatic interrogation of single-nucleotide-polymorphism (SNPs) in a microtiter plate-format byGenetic Bit Analysis, (GBA). SNPs are the most common and dispersed polymorphism in the humangenome, and it is anticipated that 40 such sites will be needed to ensure a probability of exclusion ofgreater than 99.99%. The goal of Phase I will be to demonstrate the cost effectiveness and feasibilityof detecting SNPs in previously mapped and sequenced human genomic loci, and converting those SNPsto GBA-detectable sites. The goal of Phase II will be to develop a prototype human parentage test. ThisGBA test will analyze a panel of 40 SNP markers and will be pilot tested on a significant number offamilies from major ethic groups. Development of such a test will have direct impact on the large andgrowing paternity market (more than 200,000 cases per year), providing improved accuracy and utilityat a much reduced cost. The strategy developed during this project will also yield an efficient andcost-effective system for conversion of known human DNA sequences to a GBA test format with broadapplications in human gene mapping and genetic analysis.