DEVELOPMENT OF AN ULTRASENSITIVE DETECTION SYSTEM FOR DNA SEQUENCING

A NEW GOLD PARTICLE HAS BEEN DEVELOPED THAT IS WATER SOLUBLE, CAN BE REACTED WITH NUCLEIC ACIDS IN A SPECIFIC WAY, AND IS HIGHLY SENSITIVE TO SILVER DEVELOPER. THIS SYSTEM HAS EXPERIMENTALLY DEMONSTRATED POTENTIAL TO DETECT 10(-20) MOL OF TARGET. IN PHASE I, BOTH THE COUPLING OF THEGOLD PARTICLE TO NUCLEIC ACIDS AND THE SILVER DEVELOPMENT ISBEING OPTIMIZED. THE LIMIT OF SENSITIVITY AFTER AMPLIFICATION WILL THEN BE DETERMINED. THE GOLD PARTICLE ISBEING APPLIED TO MODEL DNA ASSAY SYSTEMS THAT REQUIRE HIGH SENSITIVITY AND HIGH SPECIFICITY; THE PARTICLE IS THEN AMPLIFIED WITH SILVER DEVELOPER TO EVALUATE ITS PERFORMANCE AS A NUCLEIC ACID PROBE. THE CAPABILITY OF THE GOLD PARTICLE SYSTEM IS BEING EVALUATED IN HYBRIDIZATION ASSAYS AND IN GELS TO DETERMINE WHICH METHOD IS BETTER FOR FRAGMENT DETECTION. ITS PERFORMANCE IN MODELS FOR MULTIPLEXSEQUENCING IS ALSO BEING EXAMINED. THESE TESTS PROVIDE A BASIS FOR EVALUATION OF ITS USE IN STRATEGIES FOR MORE RAPID SEQUENCING RATES THAT INCLUDE SEQUENCING BY HYBRIDIZATION AND MULTIPLEX SEQUENCING.