EP1446502A4 - Detection et separation de polymorphismes - Google Patents

Detection et separation de polymorphismes

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Publication number
EP1446502A4
EP1446502A4 EP02776053A EP02776053A EP1446502A4 EP 1446502 A4 EP1446502 A4 EP 1446502A4 EP 02776053 A EP02776053 A EP 02776053A EP 02776053 A EP02776053 A EP 02776053A EP 1446502 A4 EP1446502 A4 EP 1446502A4
Authority
EP
European Patent Office
Prior art keywords
target
oligonucleotide
double
region
oligonucleotides
Prior art date
Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
Withdrawn
Application number
EP02776053A
Other languages
German (de)
English (en)
Other versions
EP1446502A2 (fr
Inventor
Eric B Kmiec
Michael C Rice
Current Assignee (The listed assignees may be inaccurate. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation or warranty as to the accuracy of the list.)
University of Delaware
Original Assignee
University of Delaware
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Priority claimed from PCT/US2002/009691 external-priority patent/WO2002079495A2/fr
Application filed by University of Delaware filed Critical University of Delaware
Publication of EP1446502A2 publication Critical patent/EP1446502A2/fr
Publication of EP1446502A4 publication Critical patent/EP1446502A4/fr
Withdrawn legal-status Critical Current

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    • C—CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
    • C12—BIOCHEMISTRY; BEER; SPIRITS; WINE; VINEGAR; MICROBIOLOGY; ENZYMOLOGY; MUTATION OR GENETIC ENGINEERING
    • C12Q—MEASURING OR TESTING PROCESSES INVOLVING ENZYMES, NUCLEIC ACIDS OR MICROORGANISMS; COMPOSITIONS OR TEST PAPERS THEREFOR; PROCESSES OF PREPARING SUCH COMPOSITIONS; CONDITION-RESPONSIVE CONTROL IN MICROBIOLOGICAL OR ENZYMOLOGICAL PROCESSES
    • C12Q1/00—Measuring or testing processes involving enzymes, nucleic acids or microorganisms; Compositions therefor; Processes of preparing such compositions
    • C12Q1/68—Measuring or testing processes involving enzymes, nucleic acids or microorganisms; Compositions therefor; Processes of preparing such compositions involving nucleic acids
    • C12Q1/6813—Hybridisation assays
    • C—CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
    • C12—BIOCHEMISTRY; BEER; SPIRITS; WINE; VINEGAR; MICROBIOLOGY; ENZYMOLOGY; MUTATION OR GENETIC ENGINEERING
    • C12Q—MEASURING OR TESTING PROCESSES INVOLVING ENZYMES, NUCLEIC ACIDS OR MICROORGANISMS; COMPOSITIONS OR TEST PAPERS THEREFOR; PROCESSES OF PREPARING SUCH COMPOSITIONS; CONDITION-RESPONSIVE CONTROL IN MICROBIOLOGICAL OR ENZYMOLOGICAL PROCESSES
    • C12Q1/00—Measuring or testing processes involving enzymes, nucleic acids or microorganisms; Compositions therefor; Processes of preparing such compositions
    • C12Q1/68—Measuring or testing processes involving enzymes, nucleic acids or microorganisms; Compositions therefor; Processes of preparing such compositions involving nucleic acids
    • C12Q1/6813—Hybridisation assays
    • C12Q1/6816—Hybridisation assays characterised by the detection means

Definitions

  • SNPs single nucleotide polymorphisms
  • each of these methods strives to satisfy a number of oft-competing needs: the need to identify the target locus uniquely within a complex sample (target specificity) with the need to distinguish among the polymorphic variants of the specified target (allelic selectivity); the need to provide specificity and selectivity at a single target with the need to 15 query a large number of targets concurrently in a single multiplexed reaction; the need to provide a detectable signal from a small genomic or transcriptional sample with the need to avoid target amplification approaches that introduce spurious mutations; the need to query a duplex sample with reactions - such as hybridization, primer extension, and template-driven ligation - that require single-stranded substrates.
  • RecA protein polymerizes on single-stranded DNA to form a right-handed helical nucleoprotein filament that is capable of invading duplex DNA in a sequence-independent fashion. Thereafter, in a process as yet incompletely understood, the RecA coated nucleoprotein filament searches along the duplex for homologous sequence. Once homologous sequence is located, RecA mediates further ATP-dependent reactions necessary to effect strand exchange and recombination, in the presence of a non-hydrolyzable ATP analogue, such as ATP- ⁇ S, the process halts after regions of homology have been found, with the nucleoprotein filament bound to the duplex in a joint structure commonly termed a displacement loop ("D-loop"). The strand of the duplex displaced by the RecA filament is available to bind a second single-stranded nucleic acid; the four-stranded joint structure so formed is termed a double D-loop ("double D-loop",
  • U.S. Patent No. 5,670,316 describes methods of isolating DNA duplexes by using £ coli RecA protein to anchor complementary polynucleotide probes within a double displacement loop formed at a desired target sequence; at least one of the probes has a moiety that permits the subsequent specific capture and isolation of the double D-loop- containing duplex.
  • the RecA filament homology search is permissive of mismatches, however; the in vivo manifestation of this phenomenon is the well known tolerance of homologous recombination for the presence of heterologous sequence.
  • RecA-mediated purification procedures permit separation of i o double-stranded targets, tolerance of mismatches between probe and target precludes the separation and isolation of polymorphic variants that differ by a single nucleotide.
  • genotyping methods that permit single nucleotide polymorphisms readily to be detected within a complex genome, and that permit specific polymorphic variants so detected to be isolated in double-stranded 15 form from variants that may differ by as few as one nucleotide therefrom.
  • the present invention solves these and other needs in the art by providing methods, compositions, and kits for distinguishing the presence of one or more double- 2 o stranded nucleic acid targets present within a sample of nucleic acids from variants that can differ by as few as one nucleotide therefrom, and methods that optionally permit such targets selectively to be separated and purified from such samples.
  • the methods are readily multiplexed, permitting a large number of loci to be screened within a single sample, may be adapted to a variety of existing detection 25 systems, and permit target amplification without PCR, increasing fidelity.
  • the ability to separate desired double stranded targets with allelic selectivity, with or without contemporaneous detection, offers significant advantages over current genotyping methods.
  • the invention is based in part upon the development of reaction conditions under which the paradigmatic mismatch tolerance of RecA-mediated D-loop formation does not act to prohibit single nucleotide mismatch discrimination.
  • Preferred reaction conditions can differ depending upon the topological state of the target.
  • the invention provides a method for distinguishing the presence of a nonsupercoiled target nucleic acid from the presence of 5 nonsupercoiled target variants within a sample of nucleic acids, the variants differing from the target by as few as one nucleotide within a common target query region.
  • the method comprises using a recombinase to mediate formation of at least one deproteinization-stable double D-loop in the query region of the target, under conditions that favor double D-loop formation at the target query region over formation at o variants that differ from the target by as few as one nucleotide therefrom, and then distinguishing the degree of formation of double D loops that are stable to deproteinization.
  • a greater degree of formation distinguishes the presence of target from that of variants.
  • the double D-loop formation conditions comprise contacting the nucleic acid sample with a first oligonucleotide and a second oligonucleotide 5 (hereinafter also denominated “incoming” and “annealing” oligonucleotides, respectively),
  • the first oligonucleotide may be contacted to sample before the second oligonucleotide or contemporaneously therewith.
  • the first oligonucleotide includes a complementarity region that is perfectly complementary in sequence to a first strand of the target across the entirety of the target o query region.
  • the second oligonucleotide includes a complementarity region that is perfectly complementary in sequence to a second strand of the target across at least a portion of the target query region.
  • at least one of the first or second oligonucleotide complementarity regions is imperfectly complementary to the respective first or second strands of the query region of each of the target variants desired selectively to be 5 discriminated from target.
  • the first oligonucleotide is bound by a recombinase.
  • the second oligonucleotide comprises base modifications and does not substantially bind the recombinase. And at least one of the first and second oligonucleotides is distinguishably detectable.
  • the first oligonucleotide is no more than about 100 nucleotides in total length, typically no more than 50 nucleotides in length; the first oligonucleotide complementarity region is thus usually no more than 100 nucleotides in length, typically no more than 50 nucleotides in length, and can be smaller.
  • the second oligonucleotide base modifications can be selected from the group consisting of LNA bases, PNA bases, RNA bases, and 2'-OMe bases.
  • the 5 second oligonucleotide includes at least 30% modified bases, often at least 50% modified bases, and be include at least 75% modified bases or more.
  • the second oligonucleotide in certain embodiments, is no more than 50 nt in total length, typically no more than 25 nt in total length, and at times as short as 20 nt, and even 15 - 16 nt in total length.
  • the second second oligonucleotide complementarity o region is frequently no more than 50 nucleotides in length, 25 nt in length, and in certain embodiments is as short as 15 - 16 nt in length.
  • the first and second oligonucleotide complementarity regions overlap by no more than 25 nt, often by no more than 15 nt.
  • At least one of the first and second oligonucleotides includes at 5 least one detectabe label.
  • the label is selected from the group consisting of a radionuclide, a fluorophore, a fluorescence resonance energy transfer tandem fluorophore, a fluorescence resonance energy transfer donor, a fluorescence resonance energy transfer acceptor, a mass tag, an enzyme, a genotypic label ("bar code tag"), or a hapten, with fluorophores and genotypic bar code tags having particular utility.
  • the contacting step may be performed, in certain embodiments, at a temperature of at least about 37°C, 45°C, 50°C, and even at least about 55°C.
  • the methods of the present invention may further comprise the step, after forming and before distinguishing the degree of formation of the double D loops, of deproteinizing the nucleic acids of said sample.
  • 5 Deproteinization may be performed, for example, at a temperature of at least 37°C, and for no more than about 10 minutes.
  • the double D loops may usefully be stable for a time following deproteinization sufficient to permit detectable separation of target from target variants.
  • the double D loops are stable for at least 2 hours at 4°C following deproteinization, at least 4 hours at 4°C following deproteinization, and even for at least 30 minutes at 37°C following deproteinization.
  • the nonsupercoiled double-stranded target in the methods of this aspect of 5 the present invention may be linear duplex DNA, a covalently closed circle, or a nicked circle, among others.
  • the target may be within a nucleic acid preparation lacking vector sequences or, in the alternative or in addition, be within a nucleic acid preparation having vector sequences.
  • the target may, for example, be within an artificial chromosome, and the target query region may usefully be flanked in such artificial chromosome by recognition sites for a site-specific recombinase.
  • the nucleic acids of the sample to be queried may be pooled from a plurality of individuals or drawn from a single individual. 5
  • the nucleic acid sample includes at least one variant that differs from the target by no more than one nucleotide in the query region.
  • the variants that are concurrently present may be naturally-occurring allelic variants of the target, somatically mutated variants of the target, or recombinantly-engineered variants of the target.
  • the method may further comprise the step, after deproteinizing and before distinguishing the double D loops, of separating the nucleic acids that have double D loops from nucleic acids lacking double D loops.
  • at least one of the first and second oligonucleotides is tethered to a solid support or includes a capture moiety, such as biotin.
  • the method may further comprise the step, after double D loop formation, of 5 extending by polymerase either or both of the first or second oligonucleotides, either by a single base, or by multiple bases, the latter permitting allele-specific amplification of the target query region.
  • Amplification may be isothermal or thermal cycling.
  • the method may further comprise the step, after double D loop formation, of selectively cleaving either the target or variants thereof.
  • the method may further comprising the step of quantifying the absolute or relative abundance of target.
  • the invention provides a method of distinguishing the presence of a supercoiled target nucleic acid from the presence of supercoiled target 5 variants within a sample of nucleic acids, the variants differing from the target by as few as one nucleotide within a common target query region.
  • the method comprises using a recombinase to mediate formation of at least one deproteinization-stable single D-loop or double D-loop in the query region of the target, under conditions that favor formation at the target query region over formation at i o variants that differ from the target by as few as one nucleotide therefrom, and then distinguishing the degree of formation of single D-loops or double-D loops that are stable to deproteinization, a greater degree of formation distinguishing the presence of target from that of variants.
  • Formation conditions in this aspect of the invention typically comprise 15 contacting the sample with at least a first oligonucleotide to form at least a single D-loop at the target query region.
  • the first oligonucleotide is bound by a recombinase, and includes a complementarity region that is (i) perfectly complementary in sequence to a first strand of the target across the entirety of the target query region and (ii) imperfectly complementary 20 to a first strand of the query region of each of the target variants desired to be distinguished.
  • the method may further comprise contacting the sample with a second, "annealing", oligonucleotide to effect formation of a double D-loop at the target query region.
  • the second oligonucleotide comprises base modifications, does not substantially bind recombinase, and includes a complementarity region that is perfectly complementary in
  • At least one of the first and second oligonucleotide complementarity regions is imperfectly complementary to a respective strand of the query region of each of the target variants, and
  • the method may further comprise contacting the sample with a third oligonucleotide,
  • the third oligonucleotide comprises base modifications and does not substantially bind the recombinase, It includes a complementarity region that is perfectly complementary in sequence to at least a portion of the second strand of the query region of a target variant as to which the target is desired to be discriminated, and that is imperfectly complementary in sequence to the complementarity region of said first oligonucleotide.
  • the invention provides methods of distinguishably detecting the presence of a plurality of nonsupercoiled targets within a sample of nucleic acids with selectivity sufficient to distinguish each of the plurality of targets from variants that respectively differ by as few as one nucleotide therefrom at a query region that is common therebetween.
  • the method comprises using a recombinase to mediate formation, separately for each of the plurality of targets desired to be detected, of at least one deproteinization-stable double D loop in the target's query region, under conditions that favor double D loop formation at the target query region over formation at variants that differ from the target by as few as one nucleotide therefrom, each target's double D-loop being distinguishably detectable from all others of the double D-loops formed in said sample; and then distinguishably detecting each of the stable double-D loops so formed.
  • the formation conditions comprise contacting the sample, for each of the plurality of targets desired to be detected, with a first oligonucleotide and a second oligonucleotide: the first oligonucleotide includes a complementarity region that is perfectly complementary in sequence to a first strand of its respective target across the entirety of the target query region; the second oligonucleotide includes a complementarity region that is perfectly complementary in sequence to a second strand of the same target across at least a portion of the target query region; and either or both of the oligonucleotide regions is imperfectly complementary in sequence to respective first and second strands of the query region of each of the other targets desired discriminably to be detected.
  • the first oligonucleotide is bound by a recombinase and the second oligonucleotide comprises base modifications and does not substantially bind said recombinase, and at least one of the oligonucleotides is distinguishable from the first and second oligonucleotides used to detect each of the others of the plurality of targets desired to be detected.
  • the invention provides a method of distinguishably 5 detecting the presence of a plurality of supercoiled targets within a sample of nucleic acids, with selectivity sufficient to distinguish each of the plurality of targets from variants that respectively differ by as few as one nucleotide therefrom at a query region that is common therebetween.
  • the method comprises using a recombinase to mediate formation, o separately for each of the plurality of targets desired to be detected, of at least one deproteinization-stable single- or double-D loop in the target's query region, under conditions that favor single- or double-D loop formation at the target query region over formation at variants that differ from the target by as few as one nucleotide therefrom, each target's single- or double D-loop being distinguishably detectable from all others of the D- 5 loops formed in the sample; and then distinguishably detecting each of the stable double-D loops so formed.
  • the formation conditions may usefully comprise contacting the sample, for each of the plurality of targets desired to be detected, with a first oligonucleotide, wherein the first oligonucleotide includes a complementarity region that is perfectly complementary 0 in sequence to a first strand of its respective target across the entirety of the target query region and imperfectly complementary in sequence to a first strand of the query region of each of the other targets desired discriminably to be detected, wherein the first oligonucleotide is bound by a recombinase and is distinguishable from the first oligonucleotide used to detect each of the others of the plurality of targets desired to be 5 detected.
  • the method further comprises contacting the sample, for each of the plurality of targets desired to be detected, with a second oligonucleotide, wherein the second oligonucleotide includes a complementarity region that is perfectly complementary in sequence to a second strand of the target across at least a o portion of the target query region, wherein at least one of the first and second oligonucleotide complementarity regions is imperfectly complementary to the respective strand of the query region of each of the target variants, wherein the second oligonucleotide comprises base modifications and does not substantially bind said recombinase, and wherein the second oligonucleotide is distinguishably detectable,
  • the methods of distinguishably detecting the presence of a 5 plurality of supercoiled targets within a sample of nucleic acids, with selectivity sufficient to distinguish each of the plurality of targets from variants that respectively differ by as few as one nucleotide therefrom at a query region that is common therebetween, may further comprise quantifying the relative abundance of each of said targets.
  • At least 10, 50, and as many as 100 - 10,000 o targets are discriminably detected, either seriatim or concurrently.
  • concurrent detection is by microarray hybridization
  • the invention provides methods of separating a double- stranded nucleic acid target from other nonsupercoiled nucleic acids present within a sample of nucleic acids, with selectivity sufficient to separate the target from variants that 5 differ from the target by as few as one nucleotide within a common target query region.
  • the method comprises using a recombinase to mediate formation of at least one deproteinization-stable double D loop in the query region of the target, under conditions that favor double D loop formation at the target query region over formation at variants that differ from the target by as few as one nucleotide thereof; and then separating o nucleic acids having deproteinization-stable double D loops from other nucleic acids present within the sample.
  • Typical formation conditions comprise contacting the sample with a first oligonucleotide and a second oligonucleotide, wherein the first oligonucleotide includes a complementarity region that is perfectly complementary in sequence to a first strand of the 5 target across the entirety of the target query region, the second oligonucleotide includes a complementarity region that is perfectly complementary in sequence to a second strand of the target across at least a portion of the target query region, and at least one of the first or second oligonucleotide complementarity regions is imperfectly complementary to the respective first or second strands of the query region of each of said target variants.
  • the o first oligonucleotide is bound by a recombinase and the second oligonucleotide comprises base modifications and does not substantially bind said recombinase.
  • at least one of the first and second oligonucleotides includes a capture moiety and the nucleic acids having deproteinization-stable double D loops are separated from other nucleic acids present within the sample by capture of the moiety.
  • the moiety is captured to a solid substrate, such as a magnetic bead.
  • the method can effect purification of the target, with single nucleotide selectivity, of at least 10-fold, and even at least 100-fold, 1000-fold, to 10,000-fold to 106- fold or more.
  • the invention provides nucleic acid compositions characterized by the presence of at least one deproteinized double D loop at a query region within a nucleic acid target.
  • the deproteinized double D-loop includes a first and a second oligonucleotide, wherein the first oligonucleotide includes a complementarity region that is perfectly complementary in sequence to a first strand of the target across the entirety of the target query region, wherein the second oligonucleotide includes a complementarity region that is perfectly complementary in sequence to a second strand of the target across at least a portion of the target query region, wherein the first oligonucleotide is bound by a recombinase, wherein said second oligonucleotide comprises base modifications and does not substantially bind said recombinase, and wherein at least one of the first and second oligonucleotides is distinguishably detectable.
  • the composition further comprises at least one variant that differs from the
  • the invention provides nucleic acid compositions characterized by the presence of a plurality of deproteinized double D-loops, each of the plurality formed at a query region within a respective nucleic acid target, wherein each double D-loop includes a first and a second oligonucleotide, wherein the first oligonucleotide includes a complementarity region that is perfectly complementary in sequence to a first strand of the target across the entirety of the target query region, wherein the second oligonucleotide includes a complementarity region that is perfectly complementary in sequence to a second strand of the target across at least a portion of the target query region, wherein the first oligonucleotide is bound by a recombinase, and wherein the second oligonucleotide comprises base modifications and does not substantially bind said recombinase.
  • At least two of the plurality of targets may differ in sequence by 1 - 10 nucleotides as between their respective query regions, and in some embodiments, at least two of said plurality of targets differ in sequence by exactly 1 nucleotide as between their respective query regions.
  • the composition may include at least 10, 100, 1000, even 10,000 targets, either supercoiled or nonsupercoiled.
  • the invention provides a kit for distinguishing the presence of a target nucleic acid from the presence of target variants within a sample of nucleic acids, the variants differing from the target by as few as one nucleotide within a common target query region.
  • the kit comprises a first oligonucleotide, a second oligonucleotide, and a RecA-like recombinase.
  • the first oligonucleotide includes a complementarity region that is perfectly complementary in sequence to a first strand of the target across the entirety of the target query region.
  • the second oligonucleotide includes a complementarity region that is perfectly complementary in sequence to a second strand of the target across at least a portion of the target query region.
  • at least one of the first or second oligonucleotide complementarity regions is imperfectly complementary to the respective first or second strands of the query region of each of the target variants.
  • the first oligonucleotide is capable of being bound by a recombinase and the second oligonucleotide comprises base modifications and is incapable of substantially binding said recombinase, At least one of the first and second oligonucleotides is distinguishably detectable,
  • the first oligonucleotide and RecA are combined in a single composition.
  • at least one of the first and second oligonucleotides is detectably labeled.
  • the invention provides a kit for separately distinguishing the presence of a plurality of targets within a nucleic acid sample, with selectivity sufficient to distinguish each of the plurality of targets from variants that respectively differ by as few as one nucleotide therefrom at a query region that is common therebetween.
  • the kit comprises a RecA-like recombinase, and, for each target desired to be separately to be distinguished, a pair of first and second oligonucleotides.
  • the first oligonucleotide of the pair includes a complementarity region that is perfectly complementary in sequence to a first strand of its respective target across the entirety of the target query region.
  • the second oligonucleotide of each pair includes a l o complementarity region that is perfectly complementary in sequence to a second strand of the same target across at least a portion of the target query region. Either or both of the oligonucleotide complementarity regions is imperfectly complementary in sequence to respective first and second strands of the query region of each of the other targets desired discriminably to be detected.
  • the first oligonucleotide is capable of binding a recA-Iike recombinase and the second oligonucleotide comprises base modifications and is incapable of substantially binding a RecA-like recombinase, and at least one of The oligonucleotides is distinguishable from the first and second oligonucleotides used to detect each of the others of the plurality of targets desired to be detected.
  • each of said first oligonucleotides is combined with
  • RecA either in a separate composition, or in a single, common, composition.
  • the label of each target pair is detectably labeled, the label of each target pair being distinguishable from that of each other target pair.
  • the label may be a fluorescent label or a genotypic label.
  • FIG. 1 is a flow diagram for the generation of double D-loops according to embodiments of the methods of the present invention
  • FIG. 2 is an autoradiogram showing double D-loop formation on a radiolabeled linear target under various conditions, according to embodiments of the 5 present invention
  • FIG. 3 is an autoradiogram showing double D-loop formation on a radiolabeled linear target under various conditions, according to embodiments of the present invention
  • FIG. 4 is an autoradiogram showing double D-loop formation on a o radiolabeled linear target under various conditions, according to embodiments of the present invention
  • FIG. 5 is an autoradiogram showing temperature effects on double D-loop formation, according to embodiments of the present invention.
  • FIG. 6 shows Y-loop (Y-arm) formation over a range of temperatures, 5 according to embodiments of the present invention
  • FIG, 7 shows double D-loop formation over a range of times, in minutes, according to embodiments of the present invention.
  • FIG. 8 shows Y-arm formation over a range of times, in minutes, according to embodiments of the present invention
  • FIG. 9 shows Y-arm formation with varying incoming and annealing oligonucleotides, according to embodiments of the present invention
  • FIG. 10 shows Y-arm formation with varying incoming and annealing oligonucleotides, as indicated, according to embodiments of the present invention
  • FIG. 11 shows double D-loop formation with annealing oligonucleotides as 5 indicated, according to embodiments of the present invention
  • FIG. 12 shows double D-loop formation using annealing oligonucleotides as indicated, according to embodiments of the present invention
  • FIG. 13 shows the oligonucleotide sequence [SEQ ID NO: 37] of the Kan- PCR product used as a target for double D-loop formation in embodiments of the present invention
  • FIG. 14 shows the efficiency of double D-ioop formation using the Kan- PCR product as the target, with efficiency normalized to double D-loop formation efficiency with KL02 (indicated in the figure as LNA-15mer), according to embodiments of the present invention
  • FIG, 15. shows the oligonucleotide sequence of the Hyg- PCR product [SEQ ID NO: 115] used as a target for double D-loop formation and as non-specific competitor DNA in Example 12;
  • FIG, 16 shows the efficiency of double D-loop formation according to embodiments of the present invention, using the Hyg- PCR product as the target, with efficiency normalized to double D-loop formation efficiency with Hyg15T;
  • FIG, 17 shows double D-loop formation according to embodiments of the present invention in yeast genomic DNA from a strain with an integrated copy of a Hyg- target and from a strain with an integrated copy of a Hyg + target;
  • FIGS. 18A and 18B are two color fluorescence scans of electrophoresis gels showing single nucleotide mismatch discrimination in an 8 kb plasmid target using PNA annealing oligonucleotides according to embodiments of the present invention
  • FIG. 19 is a two color fluorescence scan of an electrophoresis gel showing single nucleotide mismatch discrimination in an 8 kb plasmid target using LNA annealing oligonucleotides according to embodiments of the present invention
  • FIG, 20 is a two color fluorescence scan of an electrophoresis gel showing single nucleotide mismatch discrimination in an 8 kb plasmid target using LNA annealing oligonucleotides according to embodiments of the present invention, with temperatures as indicated;
  • FIG. 21 is a two color fluorescence scan showing single nucleotide mismatch discrimination in a linear target without the presence of competing oligonucleotides, according to embodiments of the present invention
  • FIG, 22 is a single color fluorescence scan demonstrating that either the incoming or annealing oligonucleotides may be labeled in the methods of the present invention
  • FIG, 23 is a single color fluorescence scan showing that minimal formation 5 of double D-loops (indicated by arrows) is seen with incubations below about 37°C, with optimal formation observed from 50 to about 55°C using a 45-mer incoming and 15-mer LNA-containing annealing oligonucleotide according to embodiments of the present ivnention;
  • FIG. 24 is a two color fluorescence scan showing mismatch discrimination o using competing and distinguishably labeled annealing oligonucleotides, according to embodiments of the present invention.
  • FIG. 25 is a two color fluorescence scan showing the size-dependence of mismatch discrimination according to embodiments of the present invention.
  • FIG. 26 is a single color fluorescence scan demonstrating detection of 5 double D-loops down to 1.0 ng of an 8 kb linear target DNA without signal amplification;
  • FIGS. 27A and 27B show detection of human beta tubulin PCR product using double D-loop formation
  • FIG. 28 is a table summarizing data demonstrating gene-specific separation of plasmid clones
  • FIG. 29 is a table summarizing data demonstrating variant-selective DNA separation
  • FIG. 30 is a two color fluorescence scan of double D-loops formed with oligonucleotides labeled as shown.
  • Preferred reaction conditions can differ depending upon the topological state of the target.
  • the invention provides a method for distinguishing the presence of a nonsupercoiled target nucleic acid from the presence of nonsupercoiled target variants within a sample of nucleic acids, the variants differing from the target by as few as one nucleotide within a common target query region.
  • the method comprises using a recombinase to mediate formation of at least one deproteinization-stable double D-loop in the query region of the target, under conditions that favor double D-loop formation at the target query region over formation at variants that differ from the target by as few as one nucleotide therefrom, and then distinguishing the degree of formation of double D loops that are stable to deproteinization.
  • a greater degree of formation distinguishes the presence of target from that of variants.
  • the double D-loop formation conditions comprise contacting the nucleic acid sample with a first oligonucleotide and a second oligonucleotide (hereinafter also denominated “incoming” and “annealing” oligonucleotides, respectively).
  • the first oligonucleotide may be contacted to sample before the second oligonucleotide or contemporaneously therewith .
  • the first oligonucleotide includes a complementarity region that is perfectly complementary in sequence to a first strand of the target across the entirety of the target query region.
  • the second oligonucleotide includes a complementarity region that is perfectly complementary in sequence to a second strand of the target across at least a portion of the target query region.
  • at least one of the first or second oligonucleotide complementarity regions is imperfectly complementary to the respective first or second strands of the query region of each of the target variants desired selectively to be discriminated from target.
  • the first oligonucleotide is bound by a recombinase.
  • the second oligonucleotide comprises base modifications and does not substantially bind the 5 recombinase. And at least one of the first and second oligonucleotides is distinguishably detectable,
  • the invention provides a method of distinguishing the presence of a supercoiled target nucleic acid from the presence of supercoiled target variants within a sample of nucleic acids, the variants differing from the target by as few as i o one nucleotide within a common target query region,
  • the method comprises using a recombinase to mediate formation of at least one deproteinization-stable single D-loop or double D-loop in the query region of the target, under conditions that favor formation at the target query region over formation at variants that differ from the target by as few as one nucleotide therefrom, and then 15 distinguishing the degree of formation of single D-loops or double-D loops that are stable to deproteinization, a greater degree of formation distinguishing the presence of target from that of variants.
  • Formation conditions in this aspect of the invention typically comprise contacting the sample with at least a first oligonucleotide to form at least a single D-loop at 2 o the target query region.
  • the first oligonucleotide is bound by a recombinase, and includes a complementarity region that is (i) perfectly complementary in sequence to a first strand of the target across the entirety of the target query region and (ii) imperfectly complementary to a first strand of the query region of each of the target variants desired to be distinguished.
  • the method may further comprise contacting the sample with a second,
  • annealing oligonucleotide to effect formation of a double D-loop at the target query region.
  • the second oligonucleotide comprises base modifications, does not substantially bind recombinase, and includes a complementarity region that is perfectly complementary in sequence to a second strand of the target across at least a portion of the target query
  • At least one of the first and second oligonucleotide complementarity regions is imperfectly complementary to a respective strand of the query region of each of the target variants, and the second oligonucleotide is typically distinguishably detectable,
  • the recombinase is a RecA-like recombinase
  • RecA-like recombinase is the RecA protein from £ coli, which is available commercially (Roche Applied Science, Indianapolis, IN USA).
  • o RecA orthologues have also been identified in a wide variety of prokaryotic genera, including Bacillus (B. halodurans, GenBank accession no. NP_243249), Streptomyces (S. agalactiae, GenBank accession no. NP 389079; S. pyogenes MGAS315, GenBank accession no. NP_665604); Staphylococcus [S. aureus subsp. Aureus MW2, GenBank accession no. NP_645985); Brucella (B. melitensis, GenBank accession no. 5 NP_539704); Helicobacter (H. pylori, GenBank accession no. NP_206952);
  • Corynebacterium C. glutamicum, GenBank accession no. NPJ301162; Bordetella (B. hinzii, GenBank accession no. AAM92267); Bacteroides (S. fragilis, GenBank accession no, AAK58827); Haemophilus (H. influenzae, GenBank accession no. AAM91954); archaebacteria (Reich et al., Extremophiles 5(4):265-75 (2001); and others.
  • RecA orthologues are typically members of the Rad51 family, Shibata ef a/., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci.
  • yeasts such as Saccharomyces cerevisiae (GenBank accession no. NP_011021), Drosophila melanogaster (GenBank accession no. Q27297), Caenorhabditis elegans (GenBank accession no, 5 BAA24982), and homo sap/ens(Yoshimura ef al., "Cloning and sequence of the human
  • the first, or "incoming" oligonucleotide is bound by the recombinase (so bound, the oligonucleotide is typically referred to as a nucleoprotein filament or RecA l o filament). Accordingly, the incoming oligonucleotide is composed of nucleobases that do not preclude RecA binding, typically natural deoxyribonucleosides in typical phosphodiester linkage.
  • the methods of the present invention include the antecedent step of binding RecA to the incoming oligonucleotide to form a nucleoprotein 15 filament.
  • Nucleoprotein filament formation is typically performed in the presence of at least one co-factor, such as ATP ⁇ S, GTP ⁇ S, a mixture of ATP ⁇ S and rATP, or rATP alone in the presence of a rATP regenerating system.
  • the RecA protein coating reactions of the methods of the present invention are carried out using 20 ATP ⁇ S,
  • Conditions for creating RecA filaments are well established for £ coli RecA; representative conditions are set forth in the Examples herein below. Conditions for RecA mutants and RecA orthologues may be determined by routine experimentation. In one approach, the mutant or orthologue may be substituted for RecA in the strand
  • the first oligonucleotide is typically single-stranded, and is typically at least about 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, or 30 nucleotides in length, may be about 35, 40, 45, or 50 nucleotides in length, and may even be longer, including 75, 100, even 200, 300, 400, or 500 nt in length.
  • the first oligonucleotide is typically less than about 100 nt in length, often less than about 75 nt in length, and often less than about 50, 49, 48, 47, 46, 45, 44, 43, 42, 41 or 40 nt in length, with lengths of about 30, 31 , 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41 , 42, 5 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, or 50 nt being typical,
  • the first oligonucleotide includes a complementarity region that is perfectly complementary in sequence to a first strand of the target across the entirety of the target query region.
  • the target query region is that region of the target as to which selectivity o among polymorphic variants of the target is desired. It is defined by the first oligonucleotide, and is that region of the target first strand that is perfectly complementary in sequence, in the Watson-Crick (as contrasted to Hoogstein) sense, to at least a portion of the sequence of the first oligonucleotide.
  • the complementarity region of the first oligonucleotide (and by definition 5 the target query region) is at least about 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, or 30 nucleotides in length, may be at least about 35, 40, 45, or 50 nucleotides in length, and may even be longer, including 75, 100, even 200, 300, 400, or 500 nt in length.
  • the complementarity region is less than about 100 nt in length, often less than about 75 nt in length, and often less than about 50, 49, 48, 47, 46, 45, 44, 43, 42, 41 or 40 nt in length, with lengths of about 30, 31 , 0 • 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41 , 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, or 50 nt being typical.
  • the first oligonucleotide may include regions additional to the complementarity region.
  • regions may usefully be used, for example, to provide genotypic labels ("bar codes", or "tags") that uniquely identify the 5 oligonucleotide; to provide priming sites for oligonucleotide-mediated amplification reactions; to provide phage promoter sites for generating RNA transcripts; and to provide restriction sites to facilitate subsequent cloning of the target query region.
  • genotypic labels bar codes, or "tags”
  • the second, or “annealing" oligonucleotide comprises base modifications and does not substantially bind the recombinase.
  • the inability substantially to bind o recombinase is typically, but need not invariably, be due to the presence of the modified bases.
  • base modifications usefully included in the second oligonucleotide are locked nucleic acid (“LNA”) residues, ribonucleic acid residues, such as 2'OMe residues, or peptide nucleic acid (PNA) residues.
  • LNA locked nucleic acid
  • ribonucleic acid residues such as 2'OMe residues
  • PNA peptide nucleic acid
  • Other modified bases include, for example, 2-aminoadenine and cytosine/uracil substituted at the 5 position with a methyl, propynyl or bromo group.
  • LNAs are bicyclic and tricyclic nucleoside and nucleotide analogs and the oligonucleotides that contain such analogs.
  • the basic structural and functional characteristics of LNAs and related analogues that usefully may be incorporated into the second ("annealing") oligonucleotide in the methods of the present invention are disclosed in various publications and patents, including WO 99/14226, WO 00/56748, WO 00/66604, WO 98/39352, U.S. Patent No. 6,043,060, and U.S. Patent No. 6,268,490, the disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference in their entireties.
  • LNAs that may usefully be incorporated into the second oligonucleotide are those described by the following formula:
  • X is selected from -0-, -S-, -N(RN , -C(R 6 R 6 , -0-C(R 7 R 7 , -C(RSR 6 0-, -S- C(R 7 R 7 , -C(R6R6 * )-S-, -N(RN C(R 7 R 7 , -C(R 6 R 6* )-N(RN , and -C(R6R6 C(R 7 R 7 ;
  • B is selected from hydrogen, hydroxy, optionally substituted Ci -alkoxy, optionally substituted d- ⁇ -alkyl, optionally substituted C1-4-acyloxy, and the nucleobases;
  • P designates an intemucleoside linkage to an adjacent monomer, or a 5'-terminal group, such intemucleoside linkage or 5'-terminal group optionally including the substituent R 5 ; one of the substituents R 2 , R 2 ⁇ R 3 ,
  • nucleobase and “base” cover naturally-occurring nucleobases as well as non-naturally occurring and modified nucleobases. As would be understood, various nucleobases which previously have been o considered “non-naturally occurring” have subsequently been found in nature. Thus,
  • nucleobase or “base” include not only the known purine and pyrimidine heterocycles, but also heterocyclic analogs and tautomers thereof.
  • Illustrative examples of nucleobases are adenine, guanine, thymine, cytosine, uracil, purine, xanthine, diaminopurine, 8-oxo-N 6 - methyladenine, 7-deazaxanthine, 7-deazaguanine, N 4 ,N 4 -ethanocytosine, N 6 ,N 6 -ethano-2,6- 5 diaminopurine, 5-methylcytosine, 5-(C 3 -C 6 )-a!kynylcytosine, 5-fluorouracil, 5-bromouracil, pseudoisocytosine, 2-hydroxy-S-methyl-4-triazolopyridine, isocytosine, isoguanine, inosine and the "non-naturally occurring" nu
  • nucleobase and “base” are intended to cover each of these examples as well as analogs o and tautomers thereof.
  • Especially useful nucleobases are adenine, guanine, thymine, cytosine, and uracil.
  • LNA-containing annealing oligonucleotides there may be one or several asymmetric carbon atoms present in the LNA- containing annealing oligonucleotides in the methods of the present invention, depending 5 on the nature of the substituents and possible covalent bridging moieties.
  • LNA-containing annealing oligonucleotides used in the present invention are intended to include all stereoisomers arising from the presence of any and all isomers of the individual monomer fragments as well as mixtures thereof, including racemic mixtures. Also included within the scope of the invention are variants of the general formula where B is in the -configuration.
  • the second oligonucleotide may include LNAs such as those disclosed in WO 99/14226 and U.S. Patent No. 6,268,490, the disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference in their entireties, which contain a methylene bridge connecting the 2'-oxygen of the ribose with the 4'-carbon according to the following formula:
  • B is a nucleobase
  • X and Y are intemucleoside linkages
  • the 2'-oxygen position is substituted with nitrogen or sulfur as shown in the following structures:
  • B is a nucleobase
  • X and Y are intemucleoside linkages.
  • the covalent bridging moiety may include more than one carbon atom and may span other positions within the ribose ring according to the following structures:
  • B is a nucleobase
  • X and Y are intemucleoside linkages
  • the annealing oligonucleotides may include at least one nucleoside having a xylo-LNA structure as disclosed in WO 00/56748, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety, and having the general formula:
  • B is a nucleobase
  • X and Y are intemucleoside linkages.
  • nucleoside analogs that contain linkages between the 2' and 5' carbons of the ribose ring:
  • B is a nucleobase
  • X and Y are intemucleoside linkages.
  • annealing oligonucleotide may comprise at least one nucleoside having an L-Ribo-LNA structure as disclosed in WO 00/66604, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety, and having the general formula:
  • B is a nucleobase
  • X and Y are intemucleoside linkages.
  • Yet other embodiments contain the nucleoside analogs disclosed in U.S. Patent No. 6,043,060, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. These analogs are represented by monomer units of the general formula:
  • B is a pyrimidine or purine nucleic acid base, or a derivative thereof, and where, within an annealing oligonucleotide, the plurality of B substituents may be identical to or different from one another.
  • o Synthesis of LNA nucleosides and nucleoside analogs and oligonucleotides that contain them may be performed as disclosed in WO 99/14226, WO 00/56748, WO 00/66604, WO 98/39352, U.S. Patent No. 6,043,060, and U.S. Patent No. 6,268,490. Many may now be ordered commercially (Exiqon, Inc., Vedbaek, Denmark; Proligo LLC, Boulder, CO, USA). 5
  • the annealing oligonucleotide in the methods of the present invention may alternatively, or in addition, include ribonucleic acid residues. Among such residues, 2'OMe residues are conveniently used.
  • the annealing oligonucleotide may also usefully include peptide nucleic acid (PNA) residues, oligonucleotide analogs in which the deoxyribose backbone of the o oligonucleotide is replaced by a peptide backbone, such as repeating units of N-(2- aminoethyl)glycine linked through amide bonds.
  • PNA peptide nucleic acid
  • tBoc PNA monomers and reagents for use in PNA synthesis are available commercially from Applied Biosystems, Inc. (Foster City, CA, USA), which also provides custom PNA oligonucleotide synthesis services.
  • the annealing oligonucleotides may also usefully include 2-aminoadenine and/or cytosine/uracil substituted at the 5 position with a methyl, propynyl or bromo group.
  • the annealing oligonucleotide may be composed entirely of modified bases, or may instead comprise both modified and natural bases.
  • the annealing oligo thus includes at least about 30%, 40%, 50%, even at least about 60%, 70%, 75%, 80%, 90%, 5 95%>, and even 100% modified bases.
  • the lower limit for percentage inclusion of modified bases is determined, for any given annealing oligonucleotide sequence and composition, by the requirement that the oligonucleotide not bind substantial amounts of recombinase.
  • the annealing oligonucleotide does not bind substantial amounts of recombinase if the annealing oligonucleotide, after incubation with RecA under conditions that favor filament o formation, is alone incapable of mediating the formation of a single D-loop in the target query region. Typically, recombinase binding by the annealing oligonucleotide is undetectable.
  • the second oligonucleotide is typically single-stranded, and is typically less than about 50 nt in length, often less than about 49, 48, 47, 46, 45, 44, 43, 42, 41 , even no 5 more than about 40 nt in length, and may be as short as 39, 38, 37, 36, 35, 34, 33, 32, 31 even as short as 30, 29, 28, 27, 26, 25, 24, 23, 22, 21 or 20 nt in length.
  • the second oligonucleotide may even be as short as 19, 18, 17, 16, or even as short as 15 nt in length. Annealing oligonucleotides of 15 nt are exemplified in the Examples herein below.
  • the second oligonucleotide includes a complementarity region.
  • the second oligonucleotide complementarity region is perfectly complementary in sequence to a second strand of the target across at least a portion of the target query region.
  • the second oligonucleotide complementarity region will be shorter 5 than that of the first oligonucleotide, will not encompass regions of the target outside the target query area, and will typically be less than about 50 nt, 45 nt, 40 nt, 35 nt, 30 nt, 29 nt, 28 nt, 27 nt, 26 nt, or even less than about 25 nt in length.
  • the second oligonucleotide complementarity region will typically be at least about 15 nt in length, may be 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21 , 22, 23, 24, even at least about 25 nt in length, although longer regions of o complementarity are permissible.
  • the first and second oligonucleotides have at least a 5 region of perfect complementarity therebetween, also termed an "overlap region".
  • the overlap region may extend the entirety of the second oligonucleotide complementarity region, or may instead include only a portion thereof.
  • the overlap region is at least about 5 nt, typically at least about 10 nt, and is often at least about 11 nt, 12 nt, 13 nt, 14 nt, 15 nt, and as long as about 20 nt, 25 nt, 30 nt, 35 nt, 40 nt, 45 nt, even 50 nt.
  • the second oligonucleotide may include regions additional to the complementarity region.
  • regions may usefully be used, for example, to provide genotypic labels ("bar codes", or "tags") that uniquely identify the oligonucleotide; to provide priming sites for oligonucleotide-mediated amplification reactions; to provide phage promoter sites for generating RNA transcripts; and to provide 5 restriction sites to facilitate cloning of the target region.
  • genotypic labels bar codes, or "tags”
  • At least one of the oligonucleotide complementarity regions is imperfectly complementary to its respective strand of the query region of each of the target variants desired selectively to be discriminated from the target.
  • imperfectly complementary is intended at least one mismatch with respect to the respective strand of the target variant. 0
  • a single base mismatch as between at least one of the first and second oligonucleotides, on the one hand, and the target variant query region, on the other causes discriminably decreased formation of deproteinization-stable double-D loops at nonsupercoiled variant query regions as compared to formation at the exactly matched nonsupercoiled target. Further mismatches can provide a greater difference in degree of formation.
  • deproteinization-stable is intended a degree of stability sufficient to permit Dloop or dDloop detection following deproteinization.
  • the methods of this aspect of the present invention further include the additional step, after formation of single or double D- loops, and typically (but not invariably) before detection, of deproteinizing the nucleic acids in the sample.
  • Deproteinization may be accomplished, for example, by treatment with SDS or proteinase K, as well as by standard chemical deproteinization methods, such as phenol-based methods, at temperatures up to 25°C, up to 30°C, 35°C, 37°C, at times up to 40°C, 41 °C, 42°C, 43°C, 44°C, or 45°C, and even at temperatures as high as 46°C, 47°C, 48°C, 49°C, 50°C, 51 °C, 52°C, 53°C, 54°C, or 55°C, and on occasion at temperatures as high as 56°C, 57°C, 58°C, 59°C, even 60°C, for times up to 1 , 2, 2,5, 3, 4, or 5 minutes, even as long as 6, 7, 8, 9 or 10 minutes, although the shorter incubation times are more typical.
  • the single or double D-loops at the target query region are stable after deproteinization for periods of up to 1, 2, 2.5, 3, 4, or 5 minutes, even as long as 6, 7, 8, 9 or even 10 minutes, at temperatures as high as 20°C, 25°C, up to 30°C, 35°C, 37°C, at times up to 40°C, 41 °C, 42°C, 43°C, 44°C, or 45°C, and even at temperatures as high as 46°C, 47°C, 48°C, 49°C, 50°C, 51 °C, 52°C, 53°C, 54°C, or 55°C, and on occasion at temperatures as high as 56°C, 57°C, 58°C, 59°C, even 60°C.
  • the deproteinized Dloops or dDloops are stable for longer periods, up to 1 hour, 2 hours, 3 hours, 4 hours, 5 hours, 6 hours, even up to 10-18 hours or more at temperatures no higher than 4°C, and may be stable for periods longer than 1 day at temperatures of -20°C or below.
  • the first oligonucleotide is detectable
  • the double D-loop methods of the present invention whether for distinguishing supercoiled or nonsupercoiled targets, at least one of the first and second oligonucleotides is detectable, optionally both.
  • first and second oligonucleotides may be distinguishably detectable with respect to one another.
  • each first oligonucleotide may be distinguishably detectable from the others of the first oligonucleotides
  • each second o oligonucleotide may be distinguishably detectable from the others of the second oligonucleotides.
  • the first and second oligonucleotides of each separate pair may or may not be distinguishable therebetween.
  • either or both of the first and second oligonucleotides may include at least one label, which can be directly or indirectly 5 detectable.
  • Detectable labels include, e.g., a radionuclide, a fluorophore, a fluorescence resonance energy transfer ("FRET") tandem fluorophore, a FRET donor and/or acceptor, or a mass tag.
  • Indirectly detectable labels include, e.g., an enzyme, a genotypic label, or a hapten.
  • the label may, for example, be a radionuclide, such as 33 P, 32 P, 35 S, and
  • the label may instead be a fluorophore.
  • fluorescent nucleotide analogues readily incorporated into the first and/or second oligonucleotides include, for example, Cy3-dCTP, Cy3-dUTP, Cy5-dCTP, Cy3-dUTP 5 (Amersham Biosciences, Piscataway, New Jersey, USA), fluorescein-12-dUTP, tetramethylrhodamine-6-dUTP, Texas Red®-5-dUTP, Cascade Blue®-7-dUTP, BODIPY® FL-14-dUTP, BODIPY® TMR-14-dUTP, BODIPY® TR-14-dUTP, Rhodamine GreenTM-5-dUTP, Oregon Green® 488-5-dUTP, Texas Red®-12-dUTP, BODIPY® 630/650-14-dUTP, BODIPY® 650/665-14-dUTP, Alexa Fluor® 488-5-dUTP, Alexa
  • fluorophores available for post-synthetic attachment include, inter alia, Alexa Fluor® 350, Alexa Fluor® 532, Alexa Fluor® 568, Alexa Fluor® 594, Alexa Fluor® 647, BODIPY 493/503, BODIPY FL, BODIPY R6G, BODIPY 530/550, BODIPY TMR, BODIPY 558/568, BODIPY 558/568, BODIPY 564/570, BODIPY 576/589, BODIPY 581/591, BODIPY 630/650, BODIPY 650/665, Cascade Blue, Cascade Yellow, Dansyl, lissamine rhodamine B, Marina Blue, Oregon Green 488, Oregon Green 514, Pacific Blue, rhodamine 6G, rhodamine green, rhodamine red, tetramethylrhodamine, Texas Red (available from Molecular Probes, Inc., Eugene,
  • FRET tandem fluorophores may also be used, such as PerCP-Cy5.5, PE- Cy5, PE-Cy5.5, PE-Cy7, PE-Texas Red, and APC-Cy7.
  • Pairs of individual fluorophores that can participate in FRET may also be used, with the two fluorophores of the pair present respectively on first and second oligonucleotides or present together on either or both of the first and second oligonucleotides.
  • FRET fluorophore pairs are well known in the art and include, e.g., fluorescein isothiocyanate (FITC) and tetramethylrhodamine isothiocyanate (TRITC); FITC/Texas RedTM (Molecular Probes, Inc.); FITC/N-hydroxysuccinimidyl 1-pyrenebutyrate
  • PYB FITC/eosin isothiocyanate
  • TAMRA FITC/tetramethylrhodamine
  • Alexa Fluor pairs Molecular Probes, Inc., such as Alexa Fluor 488 and any one of Alex Fluors 546, 555, 568, 594, or 647.
  • FRET donors may also be paired with quenchers, with the donor and quencher of the pair present respectively on first and second oligonucleotides, or present together on either or both of the first and second oligonucleotides.
  • Suitable fluorophore-quencher pairs are well known in the art and include, e.g., FAM, HEX, TAMRA, EDANS and Texas RedTM as fluorophore, with dabcyl useful as a common quencher,
  • Other quenchers include, e.g., QSY 7, QSY 9, QSY 21 and QSY 35 (all from Molecular Probes, Inc., Eugene, OR); gold nanoparticles (Dubertret et al, Nature Biotechnol. 19:365-370 (2001)), and other metals and metalloids, both as macroscopic solids and nanoparticles, including particles in colloid suspension.
  • Mass tags can be designed to provide hundreds of mass spectrally distinguishable species, allowing highly multiplexed reactions, and can be designed to be cleavable, typically photochemically cleavable, from the labeled nucleic acid, simplifying analysis. See, e.g., Kokoris et al., Mol Diagn. 5(4):329-40 (2000) and Pusch ef al., Pharmacogenomics 3(4):537-48 (2002), the disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference in their entireties,
  • At least one oligonucleotide may instead or in addition include at least one indirectly detectable label.
  • the oligonucleotide may include an enzyme
  • Enzymes useful for colorimetric detection are well known, and include alkaline phosphatase, ⁇ -galactosidase, glucose oxidase, horseradish peroxidase (HRP), and urease.
  • Typical substrates for production and deposition of visually detectable products include o-nitrophenyl-beta-D-galactopyranoside (ONPG); o-phenylenediamine dihydrochloride (OPD); p-nitrophenyl phosphate (PNPP); p-nitrophenyl-beta-D- galactopyranoside (PNPG); 3',3'-diaminobenzidine (DAB); 3-amino-9-ethylcarbazole (AEC); 4-chloro-1 -naphthol (CN); 5-bromo-4-chloro-3-indolyl-phosphate (BCIP); ABTS®; BluoGal; iodonitrotetrazolium (INT);
  • Enzymes may also be used for luminescent detection.
  • Luminescent labels such as enhanced chemiluminescence labels, are well known in the art.
  • HRP horseradish peroxidase
  • HRP horseradish peroxidase
  • cyclic diacylhydrazides such as luminol
  • strong enhancement of the light emission can be produced by enhancers, such as phenolic compounds.
  • Either or both of the first and second oligonucleotides may include a "genotypic label” - variously termed a "bar code tag” or “tag” in the art - which are short sequences designed algorithmically to maximize discrimination on a microarray having complements of the respective tags; a 1 :1 correspondence as between tag sequence and o first and/or second oligonucleotide permits each oligonucleotide so labeled to be detected by detection of the bar code uniquely associated therewith. See, e.g., Shoemaker ef al., Nature Genet. 14(4):450-6 (1996); EP 0799897; Fan ef al., Genome Res. 10:853-60 (2000); and U.S.
  • oligonucleotides can, in addition or in the alternative, include a detectable hapten, typically a hapten that is indirectly detectable.
  • Haptens that are commonly conjugated to nucleotides for incorporation into oligonucleotides include biotin (biotin-11-dUTP, Molecular Probes, Inc., Eugene, OR, USA; biotin-21-UTP, biotin-21-dUTP, Clontech Laboratories, Inc., Palo Alto, CA, USA), digoxigenin (DIG-11-dUTP, alkali labile, 0 DIG-11-UTP, Roche Diagnostics Corp,, Indianapolis, IN, USA), and dinitrophenyl (dinitrophenyl-11-dUTP, Molecular Probes, Inc., Eugene, OR, USA),
  • deproteinization-stable single or double D-loops may be detected in the methods of the invention by detecting radiation, as by autoradiography or phosphorimaging; by detecting fluorescence, including standard 5 fluorescence, fluorescence resonance energy transfer, fluorescence polarization, and time- resolved fluorescence; colorimetrically; by mass spectrometry, typically time-of-flight mass spectrometry; or luminescently.
  • the methods further comprise contacting the sample with a third oligonucleotide, either contemporaneously with or subsequent to contact with the first and/or second oligonucleotide.
  • the third oligonucleotide is typically designed essentially according to the 5 criteria described above for design of the second oligonucleotide, which description is incorporated here by reference, except that the third oligonucleotide includes a complementarity region that is perfectly complementary in sequence to at least a portion of the second strand of the query region of a target variant as to which the target is desired to be discriminated, and imperfectly complementary in sequence to at least a portion of the o query region of the target itself.
  • the third oligonucleotide may, but need not, be detectable. If detectable, it is distinguishably detectable from the second oligonucleotide, and optionally from the first oligonucleotide. If detectable, the third oligonucleotide may be rendered detectable by any of the approaches above-described for the first and/or second oligonucleotides, which 5 description is incorporated here by reference in its entirety.
  • the nucleic acid target and the variants to be distinguished therefrom are present in the nucleic acid sample in topologic forms other than supercoils.
  • the nucleic acid target and variants to be distinguished therefrom are supercoiled.
  • Nonsupercoiled target and variants may, for example, be linear duplexes, partially duplexed linear molecules, or nonsupercoiled circles, such as nicked circles or relaxed covalently closed circles.
  • Linear or partially linearized samples are characteristic, for example, of cellular genomic DNA preparations from eukaryotes, artificial chromosomes, such as YACs, PCR products, and various viral preparations.
  • Nonsupercoiled circles are 5 characteristic, for example, of plasmid, cosmid, or BAC preparations that have been relaxed, either by nicking (as by nucleases, chemical treatment, UV exposure, or physical shearing) or by treatment with a topoisomerase.
  • Supercoiled target and variants typically will be present within plasmids or cosmids.
  • Genomic DNA samples may be derived directly from cellular chromosomes or may instead be derived from recombinant sources. Samples derived directly from cellular chromosomes lack vector sequences and will typically be in nonsupercoiled form; samples derived from recombinant sources include vector sequences in addition to the 5 genomic target and may be supercoiled.
  • Cellular genomic samples may include DNA in aqueous composition, or may instead include DNA in desiccated or fixed form as in chromosomal spreads typically used for karyotyping. Recombinant genomic samples will typically be in aqueous composition.
  • Nonsupercoiled recombinant genomic targets usefully discriminated from o variants in the methods of the present invention include genomic targets present within artificial chromosomes, such as YACs (yeast artificial chromosomes), BACs (bacterial artificial chromosomes), PACs (P-1 derived artificial chromosomes), HACs (human artificial chromosomes), and PLACs (plant artificial chromosomes).
  • Artificial chromosomes are reviewed in Larin et al., Trends Genet. 18(6):313-9 (2002); Choi et al., Methods Mol. Biol.
  • vectors capable of including genomic DNA in nonsupercoiled form include various viral, typically eukaryotic viral, vectors, such as o adenoviral, varicella, and herpesvirus vectors.
  • genomic targets to be distinguished from their respective variants are present within vectors that permit integration of the target into a cellular chromosome.
  • genomic targets are present within vectors that permit site-directed integration of the target into a cellular chromosome. 5
  • the vector is an artificial chromosome and site-specific integration may be performed by recombinase mediated cassette exchange (RMCE).
  • a region of DNA (cassette) desired to be integrated into a specific cellular chromosomal location is flanked in a recombinant vector by sites that are recognized by a site-specific recombinase, such as loxP sites and derivatives thereof for o Cre recombinase and FRT sites and derivatives thereof for Flp recombinase.
  • sites that are recognized by a site-specific recombinase such as loxP sites and derivatives thereof for o Cre recombinase and FRT sites and derivatives thereof for Flp recombinase.
  • Other site- specific recombinases having cognate recognition/recombination sites useful in such methods are known (see, e.g., Blake ef a/ contrary Mol Microbiol 23(2):387-98 (1997)).
  • the site in the cellular chromosome into which the cassette is desired site- specifically to be integrated is analogously flanked by recognition sites for the same recomb
  • the two sites (such as /ox or FRT) that flank the cassettes in both vector and cellular chromosome are heterospecific: that is, they differ from one another and recombine with each other with far lower efficiency than with sites identical to themselves.
  • the lox or FRT sites are inverted. See, e.g., Baer ef al., Curr. Opin. Biotechnol. 12:473-480 (2001); Langer ef al, Nucl. Acids 0 Res. 30:3067-3077 (2002); Feng ef a/., J. Mol. Biol. 292:779-785 (1999), the disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference in their entireties.
  • Recombinational exchange of the cassettes from vector to cellular chromosome, with integration of the construct cassette site-specifically into the cellular chromosome, is effected by introducing the recombinant construct into the cell and 5 expressing the site-specific recombinase appropriate to the recombination sites used,
  • the site-specific recombinase may be expressed transiently or continuously, either from an episome or from a construct integrated into cellular chromosome, using techniques well known in the art.
  • the methods of the present invention can be used to detect and discriminate those vectors that include targets desired to be integrated site-specifically into a cellular chromosome, with selectivity sufficient to distinguish the genomic target from variants that differ from it by as few as one nucleotide. 5 As described in further detail below, the methods of the present invention further permit the separation and purification of targets from variants thereof, and also from unrelated targets.
  • the methods of the present invention can be used to o separate and purify those vectors that include targets desired to be integrated site- specifically into a cellular chromosome, with selectivity sufficient to isolate the genomic target from variants that differ from it by as few as one nucleotide,
  • Such embodiments may usefully be combined with methods for targeting nucleic acid sequence changes to the genomic targets present within such vectors.
  • small changes including single nucleotide changes, can be targeted to genomic targets that are present within recombinant vectors.
  • the methods of the present invention can then be used to identify, quantify, separate, and purify the successfully targeted constructs. If the target is present in a vector that permits the subsequent site-specific integration of the target into a cellular chromosome, the successfully targeted variant can then be integrated site-specifically into a cellular chromosome.
  • the methods of the present invention can be used to facilitate creation of such coisogenic cell collections.
  • the query region may be within the coding region of a gene, within an intergenic region, including promoter or enhancer elements, within an intron if the genomic sample is eukaryotic, or within the 5' or 3' UTR of a gene.
  • the target query region may be within a vector sequence.
  • the nucleic acid sample comprises 5 cDNA, either in nonsupercoiled topologies - e.g. as a cDNA population lacking replicable vector sequences, as from an RT-PCR or cDNA preparation prior to ligation into a vector - or in supercoiled form, as in a plasmid cDNA library.
  • the sample may contain as little as 100 pg of target nucleic acid, typically no less than 1 ng of target nucleic acid, often 10 ng - 100 ng of target nucleic acid, and may o include more, including 200 ng, 300 ng, 400 ng, 500 ng of target DNA.
  • the nucleic acids of the sample to be queried may be derived from a single individual or pooled from a plurality of individuals, The plurality may include as few as two individuals, and may include as many as 3, 4, 5, 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 75, or even as many as 100 individuals.
  • the nucleic acids may be derived from a body fluid, either a fluid having formed cellular elements that include nucleic acids or a fluid that lacks formed elements but otherwise includes nucleic acids, including blood, urine, sweat, saliva, sputum, semen, vaginal secretions, cerebrospinal fluid, lymph, breast nipple aspirate, pus, aqueous humor, vitreous humor, and amniotic fluid.
  • the nucleic acids may be derived from a surgical o sample, such as a biopsy, aspirate, or lavage.
  • the nucleic acids may also usefully be derived from stool or scat.
  • the sample may be drawn from cultured cells.
  • the nucleic acid samples and the targets therein may be drawn from viral, prokaryotic or eukaryotic sources.
  • targets that may usefully be discriminated from variants 5 using the methods of the present invention include targets present in double-stranded DNA viruses, such as herpesviruses, including human herpesvirus 1 and 2 (HSV-1 and HSV-2), varicella-zoster (HSV-3), cytomegalovirus (HCMV), human herpesvirus 6, 7, 8 (HHV-6, HHV-7, HHV-8), or Epstein-Barr virus (EBV).
  • herpesviruses including human herpesvirus 1 and 2 (HSV-1 and HSV-2), varicella-zoster (HSV-3), cytomegalovirus (HCMV), human herpesvirus 6, 7, 8 (HHV-6, HHV-7, HHV-8), or Epstein-Barr virus (EBV).
  • herpesviruses including human herpesvirus 1 and 2 (HSV-1 and HSV-2), varicella-zoster (HSV-3), cytomegalovirus (HCMV), human herpesvirus 6, 7, 8 (HH
  • Retroviruses having targets that may usefully be discriminated from variants using the methods of the present invention include, for example, mammalian type B retroviruses, such as mouse mammary tumor virus; mammalian type C retroviruses, such as murine leukemia virus and reticuloendotheliosis virus (strain T, A); avian type C 15 retroviruses such as avian leukosis virus; type D retroviruses such as Mason-Pfizer monkey virus; BLV-HTLV retroviruses such as bovine leukemia virus; lentiviruses, such as bovine lentiviruses including bovine immunodeficiency virus, feline immunodeficiency virus, visna/maedi virus (strain 1514), and primate lentiviruses such as human
  • the nucleic acid sample used in the methods of the present invention may usefully be drawn from eubacteria, including gram negative and gram positive bacteria, including £ coli.
  • the nucleic acid sample and target may usefully be 25 drawn from yeasts, such as S. cerevisiae, Schizosaccharomyces pombe, Ustillago maydis, Neurospora crassa and Candida albicans; mammals, such as primates, including humans, monkeys, and apes, small laboratory animals, such as rodents, including mouse or rat, guinea pigs, and rabbits, and livestock, such as cows, horses, chickens, goats, and sheep; plants, such as angiosperms, gymnosperms, and mosses, including Chlamydomonas 3 o reinhardtii, Physcomitrella patens, and Arabidopsis thaliana, and crop plants such as cauliflower (Brassica oleracea), artichoke (Cynara scolymus), fruits such as apples [Malus, e.g, domesticus), mangoes ⁇ Mangifera,
  • ⁇ Nicotiana e.g. tabacum
  • roots such as arrowroot (Maranta, e.g. arundlnacea), beet (Sefa, e.g. vulgaris), carrot (Daucus, e.g. carota), cassava (Manihot, e.g. esculenta), turnip (Brassica, e.g. rapa), radish ⁇ Raphanus, e.g. sativus), yam (Dioscorea, e.g. esculenta), sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas); seeds, including oilseeds, such as beans (Phaseolus, e.g.
  • saf/Va rapeseed
  • Brassesica napus rapeseed
  • Millet Pulanicum sp.
  • sunflower Helianthus annuus
  • oats ⁇ vena saf/Va
  • chickpea C/ ' cer, e.g. arietinum
  • tubers such as kohlrabi o (Brassica, e.g. oleraceae), potato (Solanum, e.g, tuberosum) and the like
  • fiber and wood plants such as flax (L/num e.g. usitatissimum), cotton (Gossypium e.g.
  • hirsutum pine (P/ ' nt/s sp.), oak (Qt/erctvs sp.), eucalyptus (Eucalyptus sp.), and the like and ornamental plants such as turfgrass (Lo/Zt/m, e.g. rigidum), petunia (Petunia, e.g. x hybrida), hyacinth ⁇ Hyacinthus orientalis), carnation (Dianthus e.g. caryophyllus), delphinium (Delphinium, e.g.
  • Useful targets derived from human nucleic acids include alleles known or o suspected to contribute to disease, to disease predisposition, or to responsiveness to therapeutic agents. A large and increasing number of alleles of human genes that contribute to or predispose to disease have been identified. Such alleles are catalogued, inter alia, in the Human Gene Mutation Database (http://archive.uwcm.ac.uk/uwcm/
  • the methods of the present invention may be used to identify the presence of such alleles in a patient sample.
  • Human genomic samples may also usefully be queried using the methods of the present invention for alleles known to affect responsiveness to therapeutic agents.
  • l o Genetic polymorphisms in proteins including the multidrug transporters and cytochromes, are known to play a role in drug sensitivity and in drug resistance.
  • the cytochrome P450 enzyme encoded by CYP2D6 is known to metabolize as many as 20% of commonly prescribed drugs,
  • the enzyme's substrates include debrisoquine, an adrenergic-blocking drug; sparteine and propafenone, both anti-arrhythmic
  • the gene is highly polymorphic in the population; certain alleles result in the poor metabolizer phenotype, characterized by a decreased ability to metabolize the enzyme's substrates.
  • the targets to be detected by the methods of the present invention are alleles of genes that affect drug metabolism, including:
  • the targets can be alleles that affect responsiveness 30 to a single drug, or a single class of drugs.
  • the targets can be alleles of genes, or variants of gene fusions, such as the BCR-ABL gene fusion, that affect responsiveness to tyrosine kinase inhibitors, such as imatinib (Gleevec). Resistance- conferring alleles of BCR-ABL are disclosed in Shat ef al., Cancer Cell 2:117-125 (2002), the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
  • the sample includes at least one target variant in 5 addition to the target desired selectively to be detected.
  • the target variant differs from the target by as few as one nucleotide in the common query region, and up to 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, even 10 nucleotides in the common query region. Frequently, the variant differs from the target in the common query region by no more than 9, 8, 7, 6 and even by no more than 5 o nucleotides.
  • the sample includes at least one target variant in addition to the target desired selectively to be detected, the target and variant differing in the common query region by 1 , 2, 3, 4, or 5 nucleotides.
  • the variant may be a naturally-occurring allelic variant, a separate member of a gene family, an orthologue from a heterologous species, or a recombinantly engineered 5 variant.
  • the sample includes a plurality of variants in addition to the target desired selectively to be detected.
  • Each of the plurality of variants differs from the target by as few as one nucleotide in the query region that is common therebetween, and up to 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, even 10 nucleotides in the query region that is o common therebetween, Frequently, each of the plurality of variants differs from the target in the common query region by no more than 9, 8, 7, 6 and even by no more than 5 nucleotides.
  • the sample includes a plurality of target variants in addition to the target desired selectively to be detected, the target and each of the variants differing in a query region common therebetween by 1 , 2, 3, 4, or 5 nucleotides.
  • the methods of the present invention may further comprise a step in which single D-loop- or double D-loop-containing targets are separated from other nucleic acids in the sample. Such an optional separation step may be performed after an optional deproteinization step, and either before or after detection, with separation after deproteinization and before detection exemplified in Examples set forth herein below.
  • o Separation may be based upon inherent physical properties of D-loops or dDloops that permit duplexes containing D-loops or dDloops to be distinguished from duplexes lacking such structures. Among such properties is altered mobility during electrophoresis, such as gel electrophoresis or capillary electrophoresis,
  • Separation may, in the alternative or in addition, be based upon properties that are engineered into the Dloops or dDloops.
  • either or both of the first and second oligonucleotides may include a moiety that permits subsequent capture, and thus separation, of the D-loop or dDloop-containing duplexed DNA.
  • the capture moiety is typically one member of a specific binding pair.
  • Specific binding refers to the ability of two molecular species concurrently l o present in a heterogeneous (inhomogeneous) sample to bind to one another in preference to binding to other molecular species in the sample.
  • a specific binding interaction will discriminate over adventitious binding interactions in the reaction by at least two-fold, more typically by at least 10-fold, often at least 100-fold; when used to detect analyte, specific binding is sufficiently discriminatory when determinative of the presence of the 15 analyte in a heterogeneous (inhomogeneous) sample.
  • the affinity or avidity of a specific binding reaction is least about 10 7 M- 1 , using at least 10 8 M- 1 to at least about 10 9 M- and often greater, including affinities or avidities up to 10 10 M "1 to 10 12 M- 1 .
  • binding pair refers to pairs of molecules, typically pairs of biomolecules, that exhibit specific binding
  • haptens small capture moieties colloquially termed "haptens" irrespective of their antigenicity.
  • Such haptens include biotin, digoxigenin, and dinitrophenyl, each of which may be incorporated enzymatically through use of prior- 25 conjugated nucleotides: biotin-11-dUTP (Molecular Probes, Inc., Eugene, OR, USA); biotin-21-UTP, biotin-21-dUTP (Clontech Laboratories, Inc., Palo Alto, CA, USA), digoxigenin-11-dUTP, alkali labile, digoxigenin-11-UTP (Roche Diagnostics Corp., Indianapolis, IN, USA)), and dinitrophenyl-11-dUTP (Molecular Probes, Inc., Eugene, OR, USA).
  • Biotin may be captured using avidin, streptavidin, captavidin, neutravidin, or anti-biotin antibodies.
  • Digoxigenin and dinitrophenyl can
  • Capture to a solid support after formation of deproteinization-stable single 5 or double D-loops at the target query region, permits separation of the D-loop-containing nucleic acids from nucleic acids in the sample that do not stably bind the oligonucleotide having the capture moiety.
  • either the first or the second oligonucleotide may be tethered, directly or indirectly, to a solid support at the time of single or double D-loop formation: i o separating the solid support from the sample after forming deproteinization-stable single or double D-loops at the target query region separates the D-loop-containing nucleic acids from nucleic acids in the sample that do not bind the tethering oligonucleotide.
  • the solid support in either the capture moiety or tethered embodiments, may include one or more surfaces of a unitary object, such as a slide or microtiter plate, or 15 may instead include surfaces of a plurality of discrete objects, such as beads.
  • the solid support may be glass, although other solid materials, such as amorphous silicon, crystalline silicon, or plastics, may also be used.
  • plastics include polymethylacrylic, polyethylene, polypropylene, polyacrylate, polymethylmethacrylate, polyvinylchloride, polytetrafluoroethylene, polystyrene, polycarbonate, polyacetal, 2 o polysulfone, celluloseacetate, cellulosenitrate, nitrocellulose, and mixtures thereof.
  • the solid support may be a surface of a bead, or pellet.
  • the beads need not be spherical.
  • the beads may be porous, thus increasing the available surface area of the bead available for assay. Bead sizes usefully range from nanometers, e.g. 100 nm, to millimeters, e.g, 5 mm, usefully from about 0.2 micron to about 200 microns,
  • Suitable bead compositions include those used in peptide, nucleic acid and organic moiety synthesis, and include, for example, controlled pore glass, plastics, such as polystyrene, methylstyrene, acrylic polymers, ceramics, glass, paramagnetic materials, titanium dioxide, latex, cross-linked dextrans, cellulose, and nylon. See, e.g., "Microsphere
  • the beads are magnetic, paramagnetic, or superparamagnetic, permitting separation of the beads from the liquid sample by application of a suitable magnetic field.
  • a variety of such beads may be purchased commercially from Dynal® Biotech Inc. (Lake Success, NY USA) and Miltenyi Biotec Inc. (Auburn, CA USA).
  • the first or second oligonucleotide may be tethered to the solid support by direct covalent linkage, by direct coordinate bonding (for example, as between a thiolated oligonucleotide and a gold or platinum surface), or indirectly using any of a variety of bonds.
  • the first or second oligonucleotide is tethered indirectly to a solid support by a strong noncovalent o interaction between specific binding partners.
  • a biotinylated first or second oligonucleotide may be tethered (or, in capture embodiments, captured subsequent to formation of deproteinization-stable single or double D-loops) to a solid support having streptavidin on its surface
  • Streptavidin- coated magnetic beads useful for this purpose are available commercially from a variety of 5 vendors: Dynabeads M-280 Streptavidin and Dynabeads M-270 Streptavidin from Dynal® Biotech Inc.
  • a further step of removing the first and second oligonucleotides from the target may be performed. This may usefully be accomplished, for example, by subjecting the sample to conditions, typically after deproteinization, under which the single or double 5 D-loop, but not the target duplex as a whole, is unstable.
  • the separation step may be iterated as needed to provide the desired degree of separation of target from target variants.
  • the separation step can effect a purification of the target - measured as the fold-increase in molar ratio of target to a variant concurrently present within the sample o that differs from the target within a common query region by as few as one nucleotide - by 2-fold, 3-fold, 4-fold, 5-fold, by as much as 10-fold, 50-fold, 100-fold, even by as much as 10 3 -fold, 10 4 -fold, 10 5 -fold and even as much as 10 6 -fold or more.
  • target is separated from target variants before, after, or coincident with distinguishing the presence of target in the nucleic acid sample.
  • Detection of target is not required for separation, however.
  • the invention provides a method of separating a nonsupercoiled double-stranded nucleic acid target from other nonsupercoiled nucleic acids present within a sample of nucleic acids, with selectivity sufficient to separate the target from variants that differ from said target by as few as one nucleotide within a common target query region.
  • the method comprises using a recombinase to mediate formation of at least one deproteinization-stable double D loop in the query region of the target, under conditions that favor double D loop formation at the target query region over formation at variants that differ from the target by as few as one nucleotide thereof; and then separating nucleic acids having deproteinization-stable double D loops from other nucleic acids present within said sample.
  • the invention provides a method of separating a supercoiled double-stranded nucleic acid target from other supercoiled nucleic acids present within a sample of nucleic acids, with selectivity sufficient to separate the target from variants that differ from said target by as few as one nucleotide within a common target query region.
  • the method comprises using a recombinase to mediate formation of at least one deproteinization-stable single D-loop or double D-loop in the query region of the target, under conditions that favor single D-loop or double D-loop formation at the target query region over formation at variants that differ from the target by as few as one nucleotide thereof; and then separating nucleic acids having deproteinization-stable double D loops from other nucleic acids present within said sample. Formation conditions are as described above, which description is incorporated here by reference in its entirety.
  • the methods of the present invention may further include the step, after single- or double D-loop formation, of extending by polymerase either or both of the first or 5 second oligonucleotides.
  • the first or second oligonucleotide is extended by a single base.
  • SBE Single base extension reactions
  • target specificity is achieved by hybridizing a o primer of sufficient length to discriminate among targets
  • selectivity among target variants is achieved by using the sequence-specificity of a subsequent polymerase reaction to identify a polymorphic nucleotide situated adjacent to the priming site on the template.
  • the extension reaction is limited to a single base in a number of ways, typically by including one or more species of chain-terminating nucleotide. For review, see Kirk ef al., Nucl. Acids 5 Res. 30:3295-3311 (2002); Syvanen, Nature Reviews, Genetics 2:930-942 (2001); Kwok, Annu. Rev. Genomics Hum. Genet 2:235-258 (2001).
  • an additional SBE reaction o can provide additional selectivity, additional genotyping information, or facilitate selective isolation.
  • the target template is double- stranded, providing significant advantages in sample preparation and in separation and isolation of variants in double-stranded form.
  • the single base extension may be performed in the presence 5 of one or more distinguishably labeled chain terminating nucleotides.
  • first and/or second oligonucleotide are detectably labeled
  • label is incorporated, and signal detectable, only if the position queried by SBE has one of the desired sequences.
  • further label is incorporated only if the position queried by SBE o one or more of the desired sequences.
  • the chain-terminating nucleotide may include a capture moiety
  • first nor second oligonucleotide includes a capture moiety
  • the capture moiety is incorporated, and the target separable from the sample, only if the position interrogated by SBE one of the desired sequences.
  • an additional capture moiety is incorporated only if the position interrogated by SBE has one of the desired sequences.
  • the polymerase-incorporated moiety can be used for a first round of separation, with the moiety o earlier-incorporated into first or second oligonucleotide used for subsequent rounds of purification, or vice versa.
  • the first and/or second oligonucleotides are extended more than a single nucleotide.
  • a variety of these embodiments permit amplification of the target query region, or portions thereof; with 5 formation of single D-loops or double D-loops at targets with selectivity sufficient to distinguish target from variants that differ by as few as one nucleotide therefrom, these embodiments permit the selective amplification, from inhomogeneous nucleic acid samples, of desired variants, such as desired allelic variants.
  • Amplification may be unidirectional or bidirectional, isothermal or thermal o cycling, in any combination.
  • either or both of the first or second oligonucleotide may include a phage RNA polymerase promoter, such as an SP6, T3, or T7 promoter, 5' to its respective complementarity region. Transcription from the phage promoter after dDloop formation provides RNA transcripts that include at least a portion of the target query region, 5 Transcription in the presence of one or more labeled nucleotides permits this RNA amplification product to be detected, for example by contact to a nucleic acid microarray, providing a convenient readout for the genotyping assay.
  • a phage RNA polymerase promoter such as an SP6, T3, or T7 promoter
  • Isothermal bidirectional amplification may also be performed, essentially as described in U.S. Patent No. 5,223,414, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by o reference in its entirety.
  • at least two D-loops are formed on the target nucleic acid: the first D-loop, as described above, is formed at the query region with selectivity sufficient to distinguish the target from variants that differ in the common query region by as few as one nucleotide therefrom; the second D-loop is formed either 5' or 3' thereto.
  • the two sets of oligonucleotides are hybridized to the duplex target 5 sequences in the presence of ATP ⁇ S and a reaction mixture comprising dNTPs, RecA protein and a DNA polymerase.
  • the reaction is performed below the temperature required for thermal dissociation of the two target strands and continued until a desired degree of amplification of the target sequence is achieved.
  • the reaction may further include repeated additions of (i) DNA polymerase and (ii) RecA protein-coated probes during the course of 0 the amplification reactions, Other approaches to amplification are described in United States Patent No. 5,223,414, incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
  • the 3' end of one oligonucleotide will be internal to the region defined by the two sets of oligonucleotides; free hydroxyls at these ends are necessary for the amplification reaction.
  • the 3' ends that are external to the region defined by the two primer sets may optionally be blocked to inhibit the formation of extension products from these ends.
  • This amplification method can also be used as a detection method or capture method, where detection or capture is accomplished by polymerase-facilitated o primer extension from the 3'-ends of each oligonucleotide strand in the presence of dNTP(s), where one or more dNTP contains a detectable or capture moiety.
  • the methods of the present invention may also include a further step of contacting nucleic acids of the sample with an enzyme capable of cleaving DNA.
  • the enzyme is capable of cleaving a site within or adjacent to the target query region.
  • the single or double D-loop formed selectively at the target query region directly blocks cleavage of a restriction site present therein.
  • D-loops are formed at the target query region with selectivity sufficient to distinguish the target query region from variants that differ therefrom by as few as one nucleotide, according to the methods of the present invention.
  • a cleaving enzyme such as a restriction endonuclease, is added.
  • Cleavage sites such as restriction sites, that are within the target query region are complexed within the protein-containing D-loop and are protected from cleavage.
  • Cleavage sites present within the query region of variants that differ from the target by as few as one nucleotide are typically not complexed within protein-containing D-loops, and are thus cleaved.
  • formation of the single or double D-loop selectively at the target query region is exploited selectively to alter the methylation state of the target or of the target variants; contact thereafter with a cleaving enzyme, such as a restriction endonuclease, that is sensitive to the methylation state of the duplex effects selective cleavage of target or variants, as desired.
  • the first and/or second oligonucleotide is methylated. If the first oligonucleotide is methylated, it is methylated at positions that do not substantially diminish RecA binding and nucleofilament formation.
  • the deproteinization-stable single or double D- loop formed at the target will include at least one hemimethylated duplex region.
  • Contact with a restriction endonuclease that is unable to cleave hemimethylated DNA results in selective cleavage of target variants that differ from target by as few as one nucleotide in the query region common therebetween; the target itself is not cleaved.
  • contact with a restriction endonuclease that requires hemimethylated DNA results in selective cleavage of the target; variants that differ from target by as few as one nucleotide in the query region common therebetween are not cleaved.
  • restriction enzymes that are sensitive to the presence of methyl groups in various target sequences are known and can be used in such methods, including, for example, Aatl, Aatll, Accl, Accll, Acclll, Acc65l, AccB7l, Acil, Acll, Adel, Afal, Afel, Afll, Aflll, Afllll, Agel, Ahall, Ahdl, Alol, Alul, Alwl, Alw211, Alw26l, Alw44l, AlwNI, Amal, Aorl, Aor51 HI, Aosll, Apal, ApaLI, Apel, Apol, Apyl, Aqul, Ascl, Asp700l, Asp718l, AspCNI, AspMI, AspMDI, AtuCI, Aval, Avail, Avill, Bael, Ball, BamFI, BamHI, BamKI, Banl, Banll, Bazl, Bbel, Bbill, BbrPI
  • BspLUHIII BspMI, BspMII, BspPI, BspRI, BspST ⁇ l, BspT104l, BspT107l, BspXI, BspXII, BspZEI, BsrBI, BsrBRI, BsrDI, BsrFI, BsrPII, BssHII, BssKI, BssSI, Bstl, Bst1107l, BstAPI, BstBI, BstEII, BstEIII, BstENII, BstF ⁇ l, BstGI, BstKTI, BstNI, BstOI, BstPI, BstSCI, BstUI, Bst2UI, BstVI, BstXI, BsfYI, BstZ17l, Bsu15l, Bsu36l, BsuBI, BsuEII,
  • methylases enzymes that can be used to methylate the duplex target nucleic acid molecule (methylases) are known, including, for example, M.AacDam, M.AaoHemKP, M.AarAIP, M.Aatll, M.Abrl, M.Accl, M.Acclll, M.Acil, M.Acll, M.Aflll, M.Afllll, M.AfuHemKP, M.AfuORF1409P, M.AfuORF1715P, M.AfuORF2345P, M.Agel, M.Ahdl, M.AimAI, M.AimAII, M.AIol, M.AIul, M.AIwl, M.AIw26l, M.Apal, M.ApaLI, M.ApeKHemKP, M.ApeKORF73P, M.ApeKORF446P, M.ApeKORF554P,
  • M.Cdi630ORFC636P M.Cdi630ORFC861 P, M.Cdi630ORFC898P, M.Cdi630ORFC633aP, M.Cdi630ORFC633bP, M.CelHemKP, M.Ceql, M,Cfr9l, M.CfrlOI, M.CfrBI, M.Cgll, M.ChuAHemKP, M.ChuAORFC123P, M.ChuAORFC127P, M.Cjel, M.CjeNHemKP, M.CjeN0RF31P, M.CjeNORF208P, M.CjeNORF690P, M.CjeNORF1051P, M.CjeNORF1553P, M.CmuHemKP, M.CpalOWAIP, M.CpnAHemKP, M.CpnHemKP, M.CpnJHemKP, M
  • M.EfaORFAP M.EfaORFC154P, M.EnilP, M.EsaBCI I, M.EsaBC2l, M.EsaBC3l, M.EsaBC4l, M.EsaBSI I, M.EsaBS2l, M.EsaDixl l, M.EsaDix2l, M.EsaDix3l, M.EsaDix4l, M.EsaDix ⁇ l, M.EsaDix ⁇ l, M.EsaDix7l, M.EsaLHCI, M.EsaLHCII, M.EsaLHCIII, M.EsaLHC2l, M.Esp3l, M.FacHemKP, M.FacHemK2P, M,FacORFC156P, M.FacORFC1 ⁇ 7AP, M.FacHemK2P, M,Fac
  • M.HpyAORF13 ⁇ 4P M.HpyAORF1370P, M.HpyAORF1403P, M,HpyAORF1472P, M.HpyA0RF1 ⁇ 17P, M.HpyAORF1 ⁇ 22P, M.HpyCH4IV, M.HpyCH4V, M.Hpy166GP, M.Hpyl 66HP, M.Hpy99HemKP, M.Hpy990RF41 ⁇ P, M.Hpy99ORF430P, M.Hpy990RF433P, M.Hpy990RF613P, M.Hpy990RF786P, M.Hpy990RF846P, M.Hpy99ORF1012P, M.Hpy990RF1284P, M.Hpy990RF1296P, M.Hpy990RF136 ⁇ P,
  • M.MboAORFC271 P M.Mca27343l, M.Mfel, M.MgeHemKP, M.MgeORF184P, M.MgrlP, M.Mjal, M.Mjall, M.Mjalll, M.MjalVP, M.MjaV, M.MjaVI, M.MjaHemKP, M.MjaORF132P, M.MjaORF ⁇ 63P, M.MjaORF1200P, M.MjaORF1220P, M.MjaORFCL42P, M.MieHemKAP, M.MIeHemKBP, M.MIeSHemKP, M.MIeSORF7 ⁇ 6P, M.MIoHemKP, M,MloORFmll9056P, M.MIoORFmll9333P, M.MIoORFmlr7 ⁇ 20P, M.MIoORFmlr7992P, M.MIoORF
  • M.MtuCTHemKP M,MtuCTORF2076P, M.MtuCTORF2082P, M.MtuCTORF2826P, M.MtuCTORF3363P, M.MtuHHemKP, M.MtuHORF27 ⁇ 6P, M.MtuHORF3263P, M.Munl, M.Mval, M.Mwol, M.Nael, M.NarAORFC306P, M.Ncol, M.NcrNI, M.Ndel, M.NeuHemKP, M.NeuORFC21 ⁇ AP, M.NeuORFC21 ⁇ BP, M.NeuORFC218P, M.NeuORFC219P, M.NgoBI, M.NgoBIIP, M.NgoBV, M.NgoBVIIIA, M.NgoBVIIIB, M.NgoFVII, M.NgoLII, M.NgoLHemKP,
  • M.NpuORFC226P M.NpuORFC227P, M.NpuORFC22 ⁇ P, M.NpuORFC229P, M.NpuORFC230P, M,NpuORFC231P, M,NpuORFC232P, M.NpuORFC234P, M.Npu0RFC237P, M.NpuORFC242P, M.Nspl, M.Nsplll, M.NspV, M.NspHI, M.OkrAI, M.OsalP, M.PabHemKP, M.PabORF ⁇ 88P, M.PabORF1205P, M.PabORF1283P, M.PabORF2149P, M.PabORF2246P, M.PabORF2317P, M,Pac2 ⁇ l, M.PaePAHemKP, M.PaePAHemK2P, M.Pae
  • M.UurORFIOOP M.UurORF477P, M.UurORF ⁇ 2 ⁇ P, M.Van91 ll, MNchOI IP, MNchADamP, M.VchAHemKP, M.VchAHemK2P, M.VchA0RF19 ⁇ P, M.VchAORF1769P, M.Vspl, M.Xaml, M.Xbal, M.Xcml, M.Xcyl, M.XfaAORFC332P, M.XfaAORFC333P, M.XfaAORFC340P, M.XfaHemKP, M.XfaHemK2P, M.XfaORF297P, M.XfaORF641P, M.XfaORF935P, o M.XfaORF1774P, M.XfaORF1 ⁇ 04P, M.XfaORF196 ⁇ P, M.Xfa
  • D-loops are formed at the target query region, depending on target topology; in accordance with the methods of the present invention, D-loops are formed with selectivity sufficient to distinguish target from variants that differ by as few as one nucleotide therefrom within a query region common o therebetween.
  • a methyltransferase such as EcoRI methylase
  • Methylation sites that are within the target query region are complexed within the protein-containing D-loop and are protected from methylation. Methylation sites within variants that differ from target by as few as one nucleotide in the common query region are not so protected, and are subject to methylation.
  • the sample is deproteinized and contacted with a cleaving enzyme.
  • a cleaving enzyme such as a restriction endonuclease, that preferentially 5 cleaves methylated sequences cleaves variants, not target; contact with an endonuclease that preferentially cleaves unmethylated DNA leads to target cleavage.
  • demethylase enzymes may be employed in the converse of the above-described approach.
  • single or double D-loops depending on target o topology, are formed at the target query region with selectivity sufficient to discriminate variants that differ from target by as few as one nucleotide; the single or double D-ioop are used to generate one or more specific cleavage sites that thus appear exclusively within the target.
  • type I Is restriction endonucleases are particularly 5 useful.
  • Type I Is restriction enzymes have distinct DNA binding and cleavage domains; therefore, they recognize a specific sequence but cleave a defined distance away.
  • the Type lls restriction enzyme, Fokl binds to a site containing the sequence GGATG and cleaves 9 and 13 base pairs away from the recognition site in a staggered 0 fashion.
  • Type lls and Type lls-like enzymes can be used including, for example, restriction enzyme Stsl, Group I intron homing endonuclease l-Tevl, R2 retrotransposon endonuclease R2, P1 transposase SCEI and bacterial recombination RecBCD.
  • homing endonucleases include, for example, F-Scel, F-Scell, F-Suvl, F- 5 Tevl, F-Tevll, l-Amal, l-Anil, l-Bmol, l-Ceul, l-CeuAIIP, l-Chul, l-Cmoel, l-Cpal, l-Cpall, I- Crel, l-CrepsblP, l-CrepsbllP, l-CrepsblllP, l-CrepsblVP, l-Csml, l-Cvul, l-CvuAIP, l-Ddil, I- Ddill, l-Dirl, l-Dmol, l-Hmul, l-Hmull, l-HspNIP, l-Llal, l-Msol, l-Naal, l-N
  • Type IIB restriction enzymes that cleave on both sides of the binding site 5 may also be used, such as Bcg ⁇ and Bpl ⁇ .
  • a recognition site for a Type lls, Type lls-like or Type IIB restriction enzyme is formed by an extension on either or both of the first and second oligonucleotides; within the single or double D-loop (depending upon target topology), the extension folds back on the respective oligonucleotide, forming a double- o stranded portion containing the recognition site,
  • a recognition site for a Type lls, Type lls-like or Type IIB restriction enzyme can be formed by recognition regions within the first and second oligonucleotides; the recognition regions are situated outside the regions of complementarity to target, and are complementary therebetween.
  • a cleavage moiety or peptide having nonspecific endonucleolytic activity is targeted to and cleaves the target.
  • the cleavage moiety or peptide may be linked directly to the first or second oligonucleotide or may be linked thereto through a specific binding pair interaction, such as a biotin-streptavidin interaction.
  • Examples of such an endonucleolytic moiety include, for example, EDTA-Fe 11 (for iron/EDTA o facilitated cleavage), non-specific phosphodiesterases, and non-specific restriction endonucleases.
  • the single or double D-loop may be cleaved with a single-strand specific endonuclease, for example, S1 nuclease, or a resolvase that recognizes the double D-loop structure, such as the MRE11.
  • a single-strand specific endonuclease for example, S1 nuclease, or a resolvase that recognizes the double D-loop structure, such as the MRE11. 5
  • Selective cleavage of target variants by any of the above-described methods may be used to deplete samples of such variants, either as a complement to affirmative separation of the target, or alone.
  • Selective cleavage finds particular use when the target and variants thereof are present within replicable vectors, and reduces the percentage of contaminating variants in subsequent host cell transformations.
  • Selective cleavage may also be used to facilitate selective cloning of targets, such as cloning of specific allelic variants of a gene of interest.
  • At least two D-loops are formed on the target nucleic acid: the first D- 5 loop, as described above, is formed at the query region with selectivity sufficient to distinguish the target from variants that differ in the common query region by as few as one nucleotide therefrom; the second D-loop is formed at a second site distant thereto.
  • cleavage is effected at the first site and at the second site. With formation selectively at the target l o query region, fragments unique to the target are obtained.
  • Such unique fragments also permit the detection of targets and/or variants thereof by restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis.
  • target can be amplified with selectivity sufficient to distinguish target from variants that differ by as few as one nucleotide therefrom.
  • Amplification may be according to the D- loop methods above-described, or may instead be methods that do not rely upon D-loop formation, such as polymerase chain reaction (PCR), nucleic acid sequence-based amplification (NASBA), self-sustained sequence recognition (3SR), ligase chain reaction
  • PCR polymerase chain reaction
  • NASBA nucleic acid sequence-based amplification
  • 3SR self-sustained sequence recognition
  • LCR transcription-mediated amplification
  • TMA transcription-mediated amplification
  • RCA rolling circle amplification
  • SDA strand displacement amplification
  • the methods of the present invention may further comprise the additional step of quantifying the abundance of target.
  • Abundance may be measured as absolute abundance of target within a nucleic acid sample or as abundance relative to one or more
  • Absolute abundance of a target within a sample may, for example, usefully signal the presence or absence of an allelic variant associated with a defined phenotype, such as predisposition to or presence of a disease.
  • Absolute abundance of one or more targets within a sample may additionally be used to categorize or identify a sample, as in
  • the ability distinguishably to detect a plurality of targets (or target variants) within a single sample also finds use in generating comprehensive haplotypes or genotypes 5 from individual samples for prognostic, diagnostic, or monitoring purposes; in screening large numbers of loci in a plurality of individuals to associate genotypes with phenotypes of interest; and as a way to increase genotyping throughput and lower costs per interrogated locus.
  • the invention provides a method of i o distinguishably detecting the presence of a plurality of nonsupercoiled targets within a sample of nucleic acids with selectivity sufficient to distinguish each of the plurality of targets from variants that respectively differ by as few as one nucleotide therefrom at a query region that is common therebetween.
  • the method comprises using a recombinase to mediate formation, 15 separately for each of the plurality of targets desired to be detected, of at least one deproteinization-stable double D loop in the target's query region, under conditions that favor double D loop formation at the target query region over formation at variants that differ from the target by as few as one nucleotide therefrom, each target's double D-loop being distinguishably detectable from all others of the double D-loops formed in the sample; and 20 , - then distinguishably detecting each of the stable double-D loops so formed.
  • conditions typically comprise contacting the sample, for each of the plurality of targets desired to be detected, with a first oligonucleotide and a second oligonucleotide.
  • the first oligonucleotide includes a complementarity region that is perfectly complementary in sequence to a first strand of its respective target across
  • the second oligonucleotide includes a complementarity region that is perfectly complementary in sequence to a second strand of the same target across at least a portion of the target query region, and either or both of the oligonucleotide regions is imperfectly complementary in sequence to respective first and second strands of the query region of each of the other targets desired discriminably to be
  • the first oligonucleotide is bound by a recombinase and the second oligonucleotide comprises base modifications and does not substantially bind the recombinase, and at least one of the first and second oligonucleotides is distinguishable from the first and second oligonucleotides used to detect each of the others of the plurality 5 of targets desired to be detected.
  • the invention provides methods of distinguishably detecting the presence of a plurality of supercoiled targets within a sample of nucleic acids with selectivity sufficient to distinguish each of the plurality of targets from variants that respectively differ by as few as one nucleotide therefrom at a query region that 0 is common therebetween .
  • the method comprises using a recombinase to mediate formation, separately for each of the plurality of targets desired to be detected, of at least one deproteinization-stable single D-loop or double D-loop in the target's query region, under conditions that favor single D-loop or double D-loop formation at the target query region 5 over formation at variants that differ from the target by as few as one nucleotide therefrom, each target's single or double D-loop being distinguishably detectable from all others of the D-loops formed in said sample; and then distinguishably detecting each of the stable double-D loops so formed.
  • the formation conditions comprise contacting the sample, for o each of the plurality of targets desired to be detected, with a first oligonucleotide, wherein the first oligonucleotide includes a complementarity region that is perfectly complementary in sequence to a first strand of its respective target across the entirety of the target query region and is imperfectly complementary in sequence to a first strand of the query region of each of the other targets desired discriminably to be detected.
  • the first oligonucleotide is bound by a recombinase and is distinguishable from the first oligonucleotide used to detect each of the others of the plurality of targets desired to be detected.
  • the method may further comprise contacting the sample, for each of the plurality of targets desired to be detected, with a second oligonucleotide.
  • the second oligonucleotide comprises base modifications and does not substantially bind said recombinase.
  • the second oligonucleotide includes a complementarity region that is perfectly complementary in sequence to a second strand of the target across at least a portion of the target query region, and at least one of the first and second oligonucleotide complementarity regions is imperfectly complementary to the respective strand of the query 5 region of each of the target variants, The second oligonucleotide is distinguishably detectable.
  • the plurality of single or double D-loops in the multiplexed aspects of the present invention may be formed concurrently or seriatim, and the D loops so formed may be detected concurrently or seriatim, i o
  • Methods well suited for concurrent detection include microarray detection, including detection of oligonucleotide-associated bar code tags using a microarray having tag complements, Shoemaker etal., Nature Genet. 14(4):4 ⁇ 0-6 (1996); EP 0799897; Fan ef al., Genome Res. 10:853-60 (2000); and U.S. Patent No. 6,150,516, the disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference in their entireties.
  • microarray and the equivalent phrase “nucleic acid microarray” refer to a substrate-bound collection of plural nucleic acids, hybridization to each of the plurality of bound nucleic acids being separately detectable.
  • the substrate can be solid or porous, planar or non-planar, unitary or distributed.
  • microarray and phrase “nucleic acid microarray” include all the devices so called in
  • microarray and phrase “nucleic acid microarray” also include substrate-bound collections of plural nucleic acids in which the plurality of nucleic acids are distributably disposed on a plurality of beads, rather than on a unitary planar substrate, as is described, inter alia, in Brenner et al, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 97(4):166501670 (2000), the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety; in such case, the o term “microarray” and phrase “nucleic acid microarray” refer to the plurality of beads in aggregate.
  • microarray and phrase “nucleic acid microarray” also include substrate-bound collections of plural nucleic acids in which the plurality of nucleic acids are incorporated within a gel, as is described, inter alia, in U.S. Patent No. 6,174,683, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
  • the plurality of single or double D-loops may also be detected concurrently using mass tags and mass spectrometry, typically time of flight mass spectrometry.
  • the plurality of targets to be distinguishably detected may include a plurality of targets that differ from one another at a query region common thereamong by as few as one nucleotide.
  • the targets may differ from one another by 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, even 10 nucleotides in a common query region.
  • Such targets desired concurrently to be detected may differ in a common query region by no more than 9, 8, 7, 6 and even by no more than ⁇ nucleotides.
  • the targets desired concurrently and distinguishably to be detected differ in a common query region by 1, 2, 3, 4, or ⁇ nucleotides.
  • targets may be naturally-occurring allelic variants, separate members of a gene family, or recombinantly engineered variants of a single progenitor nucleic acid.
  • the plurality of targets to be distinguishably detected may include a plurality of unrelated targets.
  • targets may, for example, be separate and discrete loci present in a common genome
  • the plurality of targets distinguishably to be detected may include as few as 2, 3, 4, or 5 targets, and may include 10, 20, 30, 40, or even 50 or more targets.
  • the plurality of targets distinguishably to be detected may include as many as 100 targets, 250 targets, 500 targets, even as many as 1 ,000, 2,000, 3,000, 4,000, or 5,000 or more targets. Even as many as 10,000 to 100,000 targets may be distinguishably detected.
  • the methods of this aspect of the invention may further include the step of quantifying the abundance of one or more of the targets within the sample.
  • allelic variants within a population - including single nucleotide polymorphisms and haplotypes comprising a plurality of variants at multiple loci - may be used, for example, to associate genotypes with phenotypes of interest.
  • Such phenotypes include monogenic and polygenic diseases, or predispositions thereto.
  • the relative abundance of a particular variant at a particular locus may be used e.g. to diagnose loss of heterozygosity, and thus the presence of a donal subpopulafion of transformed cells in a biological sample, which can be diagnostic of the presence of a cancerous or precancerous lesion.
  • the invention permits detection of a trace amount of DNA derived from neoplastic or preneoplastic cells in a biological sample containing a majority of wild type DNA or whole cells.
  • the invention comprises the comparative measurement of two genomic sequences.
  • One genomic sequence is stable through transformation—that is, it is identical in both malignant and wild type cells in the sample.
  • a second genomic sequence typically undergoes change during the course of transformation - that is, it is mutated or lost during the development of malignant precursor cells.
  • the relative abundance of the sequences is determined: if a statistically significant difference in abundance is observed, diagnosis may be made.
  • the sample is usefully a stool sample voided by a patient.
  • Methods for physical preparation of stool samples for genetic detection are disclosed in U.S. Patent Nos. 5,670,325 and 6,303,304, the disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference in their entireties.
  • the first and second genomic samples may be maternal and paternal alleles of a single locus of a heterozygous individual. A statistically different abundance of one of the two alleles can indicate loss of heterozygosity, and the presence of a donal subpopulafion of transformed cells.
  • Genes for which loss of heterozygosity has been implicated in the etiology of one or more human cancers, and which are thus usefully assayed using these embodiments of the methods of the present invention include p53, DCC, APC, CDK2AP1 , DBCCR1 , DDX26, DEC, DEC1, DLC1, DLEC1, DLEU1, DLEU2, DMBT1, DNB ⁇ , DOC-1R, DSS1 , RERE (nomenclature pursuant to CancerGene database, Infobiogen, France: http://caroll.vjf.cnrs.fr/cancergene/HOME.html).
  • the invention provides nucleic acid compositions within which nucleic acid targets that differ by as few as a single nucleotide may be distinguished.
  • the nucleic acid composition is characterized by the presence of at least one deproteinized double D loop at a query region within a nucleic acid target.
  • the deproteinized double D-loop includes a first and a second oligonucleotide.
  • the first oligonucleotide includes a complementarity region that is perfectly complementary in sequence to a first strand of the target across the entirety of the target query region.
  • the second oligonucleotide includes a complementarity region that is perfectly complementary in sequence to a second strand of the target across at least a portion of the target query region.
  • the first oligonucleotide is bound by a recombinase, the second oligonucleotide comprises base modifications and does not substantially bind the recombinase, and at least one of said first and second oligonucleotides is distinguishably detectable.
  • the first and second oligonucleotides have the features set forth above in the description of the methods of the present invention, which description is incorporated here by reference in its entirety.
  • the composition further comprises at least one variant that differs from the target by as few as one nucleotide within a query region that is common therebetween; the query region of each of the target variants lacks a double D loop.
  • the invention provides a nucleic acid composition characterized by the presence of a plurality of deproteinized double D-loops, each of the plurality formed at a query region within a respective nucleic acid target.
  • Each double D-loop includes a first and a second oligonucleotide.
  • Each first oligonucleotide includes a complementarity region that is perfectly complementary in sequence to a first strand of its respective target across the entirety of the target query region.
  • Each second oligonucleotide includes a complementarity region that is perfectly complementary in sequence to a second strand of its respective target across at least a portion of the target query region.
  • the first oligonucleotide is bound by a recombinase; the second oligonucleotide comprises base modifications and does not substantially bind said recombinase.
  • At least two of the plurality of targets differ in sequence by at least one, and by fewer than 10 nucleotides as between their respective o query regions, including 1 , 2, 3, 4, ⁇ , 6, 7, ⁇ , or even 9 nucleotides as between their respective query regions, with a sequence difference of 1 - ⁇ nucleotides being typical.
  • at least two of the plurality of targets having double D-loops differ by exactly 1 nucleotide as between their respective query regions, 5
  • the plurality of targets may include at least 10 targets, 100 targets, 1000 targets, even as many as 10,000 targets or more.
  • the targets may be nonsupercoiled or supercoiled.
  • kits that are useful for performing the methods of the present invention.
  • the kits provide buffers; o and/or wash solutions; and/or detergents useful for removing recombinase, such as SDS; and/or a recombinase such as RecA, modified RecA or a yeast, human or mammalian analog of RecA; and/or annealing and/or incoming oligonucleotides; and/or positive and/or negative control samples; and/or instructions.
  • double D-loops Typically, we form double D-loops or Y-arms (Y-arms are D-loops formed at the end of a duplex target; hereinafter, unless otherwise o dictated by context, the term D-loop includes Y-arms) by combining the following in a 7 ⁇ l reaction so that the final concentration in 10 ⁇ l is: ⁇ O nM of the first or "incoming" oligonucleotide; 2, ⁇ ⁇ M Escherichia coli RecA protein; 1.0 mM ATP- ⁇ -S; 2 ⁇ mM Tris- acetate, pH 6.8; 1 mM dithiothreitol; and 1 mM magnesium acetate. This reaction is incubated for 10 minutes at 37°C to allow for binding of RecA protein to the oligonucleotide 5 ("presynapsis", see Figure 1 for an outline of the method).
  • double-stranded nucleic acid target which is generally 32 P- end-labeled using T4 polynucleotide kinase to facilitate detection of the complex, at a concentration of approximately 20 nM and 10 mM magnesium acetate to a final volume of 10 ⁇ l.
  • annealing oligonucleotide in 1 ⁇ l to a concentration of 640 nM (calculated for the original 10 ⁇ l reaction volume) and incubate for 10 minutes at 37°C to allow the second oligonucleotide to anneal to the target nucleic acid.
  • We then denature the RecA bound to the oligonucleotide:target complex by cooling the reaction to about 4°C in an ice bath and 5 adding 1 ⁇ l of 10% SDS, The samples are then used immediately or stored at -20°C.
  • Double D-loops We may analyze the samples prepared as described above by separating by polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (PAGE), We dry the gels and detect the 32 P-labeled target duplex nucleic acid by either autoradiography or using a phosphorimager. We monitor the formation of the double D-loops under these assay o conditions by detecting the retarded migration of the labeled nucleic acid in the gel: the labeled target nucleic acid in double D-loops migrates more slowly than duplex target nucleic acid.
  • PAGE polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis
  • Oligonucleotides used in this example We employ the protocol described 0 in Example 1 to form double D-loops between two DNA oligonucleotides and linear, duplex target DNA.
  • the target duplex DNA is composed of two linear 70-mer oligonucleotides with sequence complementary to each other.
  • the sequence of the first target strand, designated "OligoA" is: ⁇ '-CTCCGGCCGCTTGGGTGGAG
  • AGGCTATTCGGCTACGACTGGGCACAACAGACAATCGGCTGCTCTGATGC-3' SEQ ID 5 NO: 1
  • OligoB sequence of the second target strand
  • the nucleotide which is approximately at the center of the target sequence is indicated in underlined to allow for easy identification of the complementary sequence of o subsequent DNA oligonucleotides.
  • the first or incoming oligonucleotide, designated "OligoC” is a 30-mer with the following sequence: ⁇ '-AGGC TATTCGGCTACGACTGGGCACAACAG-3' (SEQ ID NO: 3) which is complementary to OligoB.
  • the second or annealing oligonucleotide is a 2 ⁇ -mer with the following sequence: 5 ⁇ '-TTGTGCCCAGTCGTAGCCGAATAGC-3' (SEQ ID NO: 4) which is complementary to
  • OligoA In certain experiments, we use in place of Oligol as the annealing oligonucleotide the following 15-mer LNA oligonucleotide, designated "OligoN": ⁇ '-GCCCAGTCGJAGCCG- 3' (SEQ ID NO: ⁇ ).
  • AAACAGACACCATGGTGCACCTGACTCCTGAGGAGAAGTCTGC-3' (SEQ ID NO: 6) and the sequence of the second target strand, designated "OligoU", is: 3'- TGTTGACACAAGTGATCGTTGGAG TTTGTCTGTGGTACCACGTGGACTGAGGACTCCTCTTCAGACG- ⁇ ' (SEQ ID NO: 7).
  • OligoX The first or incoming oligonucleotide, designated OligoX" is a 30-mer with the following sequence: 5'-
  • GCAGACTTCTCCTCAGGAGTCAGGTGCACC-3' SEQ ID NO: 8 which is complementary to the end of the OligoT strand of the target duplex
  • the second or annealing oligonucleotide, designated "Oligo ⁇ ” is a 30-mer with the following sequence: ⁇ '- GTTGCACCTGACTCCTGAGGAGAAGTCTGC-3' (SEQ ID NO: 9) which is complementary to OligoU.
  • Annealing oligonucleotide and RecA are required for formation of double D- loops.
  • the results of these experiments are shown in Figure 2 (using OligoA/OligoB target and OligoC/Oligol), Figure 3 (using OligoA/Oligo B target and OligoC/OligoN) and Figure 4 (using OligoT/OligoU target and OligoX/Oligo ⁇ ).
  • omitting both oligonucleotides leads to no complex formation.
  • the double D-loop or Y-arm structure is formed first by adding o annealing oligonucleotide before the addition of excess free incoming oligonucleotide there is essentially no impairment of double D-loop formation. This result confirms that the annealing oligonucleotide is incorporated into the double D-loop prior to deproteinization of the complex.
  • Example 1 (lane 6) or when we perform deproteinization at 37°C (lane ⁇ ).
  • lanes ⁇ and 6 also clearly shows that the use of an oligonucleotide comprising LNA results in much greater formation of double D-loops than when oligonucleotides containing only 5 DNA residues are used.
  • Oligonucleotides comprising LNA can form double D-loops in a single-step reaction. If incoming and annealing oligonucleotides are added simultaneously to the target duplex, double D-loop formation is severely impaired or absent.
  • DNA oligonucleotides OligoC/Oligol with OligoA/OligoB target
  • Figure 2 lane 9 o and lane 10.
  • lane 9 the oligonucleotides are combined and coated with RecA together before adding them to the target nucleic acid and in Figure 2, lane 10 the oligonucleotides are first separately coated with RecA and then added together to the target nucleic acid.
  • lane 9 and lane 10, 5 simultaneous addition of two DNA oligonucleotides also fails to support the formation of Y- arms.
  • OligoA/OligoB experiment As shown in Figure ⁇ , we test incubation at 37°C for 1 , 2, 3, 4, ⁇ , 6, 8, 10, 15 and 20 minutes. We observe almost quantitative conversion of the free duplex target to oligonucleotide-containing Y-arms at the one-minute time point and we do not observe a substantial increase in Y-arm formation with longer incubation times. In contrast to the OligoA OligoB experiment, however, we do not see a reduction in the ratio of free duplex target to target complexed with oligonucleotides in the Y-arms, which is probably due to the fact that double D-loops formed at the end of a linear duplex target (i.e.
  • Y-arms are generally more stable that double D-loops formed in the middle of a linear duplex target. It is readily apparent to one of skill in the art that this procedure can be applied to any target nucleic acid or set of oligonucleotides to determine the annealing time that leads to optimal formation of the corresponding double D-loop.
  • OligoV is a 20-mer with the sequence ⁇ '-GCAGACTTCTCCTCAGGAGT-3' (SEQ ID NO: 10); OligoW is a 2 ⁇ -mer with the sequence ⁇ '-GCAGACTTCTCCTCAGGAGTCAGGT-3' (SEQ ID NO: 5 11); OligoX is a 30-mer (SEQ ID NO: 8); OligoY is a 3 ⁇ -mer with the sequence ⁇ '-
  • GCAGACTTCTCCTCAGGAGTCAGGTGCACCATGGT-3' (SEQ ID NO: 12); OligoZ is a 40- mer with the sequence ⁇ '-GCAGACTTCTCCTCAGGAGTCAGGTGCACCATGGTGT CTG-3' (SEQ ID NO: 13); and Oligol is a 46-mer with the sequence 5 - GCAGACTTCTCCTCAGGAGTC o AGGTGCACCATGGTGTCTGTTTGAG-3' (SEQ ID NO: 14).
  • Oligo2 is a 20-mer with the sequence ⁇ '-ACTCCTGAGGAGAAGTCTGC-3' (SEQ ID NO: 15); Oligo4 is a 25-mer with the sequence ⁇ '-ACCTGACTCCTGAGGAGAAGTCTGC-3' (SEQ ID NO: 16); Oligo ⁇ is a 30- 5 mer with the sequence ⁇ '-GTTGCACCTGACTCCTGAGGAGAAGTCTGC-3' (SEQ ID NO:
  • Oligo ⁇ is a 3 ⁇ -mer with the sequence ⁇ '-ACCATGGTGCACCTGACTCCTGAGGAG
  • Oligo? is a 40-mer with the sequence 5'-
  • Oligonucleotides of different lengths form double D-loops and Y-arms.
  • Oligonucleotides used in this example We use the OligoA/OligoB duplex as the target nucleic acid for these experiments.
  • OligoC SEQ ID NO: 3
  • OligoD complementary oligonucleotide which targets the opposite strand of the duplex target
  • OligoE is a DNA 30-mer with the sequence ⁇ '-AGGCTATTCGGCTACGACTGGGCACAACAG-3' (SEQ ID NO: 21); OligoF is a DNA 25- mer with the sequence ⁇ '-GCTATTCGGCTACGACTGGGCACAA-3' (SEQ ID NO: 22); OligoG is a DNA 20-mer with the sequence ⁇ '-ATTCGGCTACGACTGGGCAC-3' (SEQ ID NO: 23); OligoH is a DNA 30-mer with the sequence 5'- CTGTTGTGCCCAGTCCTAGCCGAATAGCCT-3' (SEQ ID NO: 24); Oligol is a DNA 2 ⁇ -mer with the sequence ⁇ '-TTGTGCCCAGTCGTAGCCGAATAGC-3'(SEQ ID NO: 4); OligoJ is a DNA 30-mer with the sequence ⁇ '-TTGTGCCCAGTCGTAGCCGAATAGC-3'(SEQ ID NO: 4); OligoJ is a DNA 30-mer with the sequence ⁇ '-TTGTGCCCAG
  • OligoK is a 2'-OMe-RNA 30- mer with the sequence ⁇ '-CUGUUGUGCCCAGUCCUAGCCGAAU AGCCU-3' (SEQ ID NO: 26); OligoL is a 2'- O-methyl-RNA 2 ⁇ -mer with the sequence ⁇ '- UUGUGCCCA
  • OligoM is a DNA 2 ⁇ -mer with 5 phosphorothioate backbone linkages with the sequence 5'-
  • oligonucleotides or PNAs are completely complementary to the target sequence except OligoH, OligoK, OligoQ and OligoS which each have a single basepair mismatch.
  • oligonucleotides with a mismatched base can form a double D-loop (lanes 2 and 3) and that when we use 2'-OMe-RNA oligonucleotides (lanes 3 and ⁇ ), PNA (lane 7) and LNA oligonucleotides (lanes 8-10) as annealing oligonucleotides the formation of double D-loops is more robust that with DNA oligonucleotides.
  • OligoA/OligoB target nucleic acid relative to the previous experiment, and annealing oligonucleotides as indicated in Figure 12.
  • oligonucleotide with a mismatched base can form a double D-loop (lane 6) and that when we use 2'-OMe-RNA oligonucleotides (lane 5) and PNA (lanes 6 and 7) as annealing oligonucleotides the formation of double D-loops is more robust that with DNA oligonucleotides.
  • these data also show that the double D-loop can be formed when the incoming oligonucleotide recognizes either strand of the target duplex.
  • OLIGONUCLEOTIDE TARGET CAPTURE AND DNA DETECTION
  • Oligonucleotides used in this example. We use the OligoA/OligoB duplex as the target nucleic acid for these experiments. We use a 32 P-labeled DNA oligonucleotide as the incoming oligonucleotide. We then use a biotin-labeled annealing oligonucleotide comprising at least one modified backbone that enhances hybrid stability or a modified base that enhances hybrid stability. o The capture/detection assay.
  • the double D-loop containing samples from above are each added to a o microcentrifuge tube containing an aliquot of the washed paramagnetic beads.
  • the samples are mixed, and incubated at room temperature for 1 ⁇ min. The mixtures are shaken several times during incubation to ensure efficient bioti streptavidin interaction.
  • the capture reaction i.e., the binding of streptavidin to biotin
  • the paramagnetic beads in each reaction are amassed with a magnet and the reaction buffer removed.
  • hybridization product containing two complementary but differentially labeled oligonucleotides, can be captured using the streptavidin interaction with the biotin labeled probe strand and subsequently detected by a l o label in the complementary probe strand.
  • the DNA reaction can be carried out in buffer containing 10 mM Tris-HCl (pH 7.5),
  • reaction 8-12 mM MgCI 2 , and 50 mM NaCl supplemented with 200-750 ⁇ M dNTPs and DNA polymerase (e.g., exonudease-free, DNA polymerase I, Klenow, or T7 DNA polymerase),
  • DNA polymerase e.g., exonudease-free, DNA polymerase I, Klenow, or T7 DNA polymerase
  • the reaction may additionally be supplemented with other enzymes or proteins (e.g. DNA helicase, DNA ligase and SSB protein) which may facilitate the formation of the specific amplification product.
  • the reaction is allowed to proceed for as long as necessary at 37°C, 5 Upon termination, samples are optionally deproteinized and analyzed by gel electrophoresis.
  • the resulting amplified DNA can be visualized by either ethidium bromide staining of the DNA in the gel or by DNA hybridization with a target specific DNA probe.
  • one of the DNA oligonucleotides can be biotinylated and the newly synthesized DNA captured by appropriate means and then o detected as previously described,
  • DNA synthesis reactions are initiated by the addition of 1-2 unit(s) of exonudease-free E. coli DNA polymerase I (U.S. Biochemicals) and 750 ⁇ M of each dNTP, The reactions are incubated at 37°C,
  • the reactions can be 5 supplemented with 1 unit of e.g., Klenow and/or additional dNTPs, at specific intervals spaced over the time course of the reaction.
  • Samples are treated with proteinase K, before being loaded for electrophoretic separation. After electrophoretic separation the resulting amplified DNA fragments can be visualized by either ethidium bromide staining of the gel or by o hybridization with a target specific probe.
  • the gel can be transferred by standard protocols onto hybridization transfer membrane. We then detect the DNA using end-labeled probe corresponding to the DNA sequence of the target nucleic acid internal to the two double D- loops. We then detect hybridization signal by autoradiography or using a phosphorimager. 5 EXAMPLE 8
  • oligonucleotide complex Preparation of oligonucleotide complex.
  • oligonucleotides to form a double D-loop in a target nucleic acid.
  • One of these oligonucleotides comprises LNA and one of these oligonucleotides comprises a detectable fluorophore,
  • Oligonucleotides used in this example We use the 32 P-labeled OligoA/OligoB duplex as the target nucleic acid for these experiments.
  • OligoC the DNA oligonucleotide OligoC as the incoming oligonucleotide and OligoN as the annealing oligonucleotide.
  • Double-D-loops can be formed using different cof actors for the RecA protein.
  • Double D-loop formation reaction was tested to tolerate variations in reagent concentrations.
  • We form double D-loops by combining 1.1 ⁇ l of fluorescently labeled incoming oligonucleotide LDF/46G ( ⁇ '-CyTM ⁇ - GGTGGAGAGGCTATTCGGCTAGGACTGGGCACAACAGA o CAATCGG-3'; SEQ ID NO: 34), 3 ⁇ l of ⁇ x Synaptic Buffer (125 mM Tris-acetate, 5 mM
  • the sequence of the resulting PCR product is shown in Figure 13 (SEQ ID NO: 37).
  • the fraction of target molecules that are in double D-loops at the different incoming oligonucleotide concentrations is 33% with 2.25 ⁇ M oligonucleotide; 37% with 4.5 ⁇ M oligonucleotide; 39% with 9 ⁇ M oligonucleotide; and 42% with 1 ⁇ ⁇ M oligonucleotide.
  • These results also indicate that double D-loop formation occurs over a wide range of oligonucleotide concentrations. Based on these results, unless indicated otherwise, the reaction in the following examples uses 1.11 ⁇ l of 18 ⁇ M incoming oligonucleotide and 2.0 ⁇ l of RecA.
  • the underlined residues in KL01 ⁇ are DNA, the remainder are LNA,
  • annealing oligonucleotides comprising LNA as indicated in Table 2. As indicated in Table 2, we also test annealing oligonucleotides of various lengths. We normalize the percentage of double D-loop formation relative to the percentage of double D- loop formation using Hygl ⁇ T as the annealing oligonucleotide to calculate relative efficiency. As indicated in Figure 16, we observe that stable double D-loop formation occurs using any of the test annealing oligonucleotides. In this reaction, we observe that double D- loop formation is most efficient when we use the longest of the test oligonucleotides. As indicated by the error bars in Figure 16, the variation in the efficiency of double D-loop formation in this reaction is also very low,
  • DOUBLE D-LOOP FORMATION IS SEQUENCE-SPECIFIC
  • Hyg- PCR fragment was added to the mixture in a 1 :1 , 5:1 and 10:1 molar ratio relative to the amount of the Kan- target nucleic acid molecule.
  • the addition of the non-specific Hyg- PCR fragment has no noticeable effect on the o efficiency of double D-loop formation.
  • the poly dl-dC non-specific competitor nucleic acid molecule in vast excess (10 1 -, 10 2 -, 10 3 -, 10 4 - and 10 5 -fold excess over the amount of the Kan- target nucleic acid molecule). Even with such a vast excess of competitor, we observe no noticeable effect on the efficiency of double D-loop formation.
  • topoisomerase I The effect of adding topoisomerase I on the formation of double D- loops in a large, supercoiled plasmid target.
  • LDB/46G has the same sequence as LDF/46G (used in o Example 10), except that LDB/46G is not labeled with CyTM ⁇ and has a biotin molecule attached at the 3' end by a TEG linker (5 - GGTGGAGAGGCTATTCGGCTAGGACTGGGCACAACAGACAA TCGG-3'bioTEG; SEQ ID NO: 52). Neither the incoming oligonucleotide (LDF/45G) or the annealing oligonucleotide (KL02) has significant sequence complementarity to any 5 sequence in pBR322.
  • the incoming oligonucleotide LDF/31 G is complementary to the sequence of the mutant Kan R gene with the nucleotide corresponding to the point mutation centrally positioned and the incoming oligonucleotide LDF/31 C is fully complementary to the sequence of a functional Kan R gene.
  • the RecA-coated mixture of incoming oligonucleotides is added separately to either the Kan- or the Kan + PCR product.
  • KM2 SEQ ID NO: 39
  • the KM2 oligonucleotide is perfectly complementary to the Kan- target sequence.
  • We also perform this experiment with an individual annealing oligonucleotide specific for the Kan + target sequence and with a mixture of the two oligonucleotides.
  • We perform these experiments with annealing oligonucleotides comprising a variety of combinations of modfied backbones or bases, including, for example, LNA, PNA, 2'-0- methyl RNA and 2-aminoadenine or cytosine/uracil substituted at the ⁇ position with a methyl, propynyl or bromo group.
  • double D-loop complexes in which the labeled incoming oligonucleotide is mismatched to the template are significantly less stable after denaturing the RecA than complexes in which the oligonucleotide is perfectly complementary to the i o template.
  • This difference is readily detectable and after only 2.6 minutes at 37°C a double D-loop made with a mismatched annealing oligonucleotide is almost completely undetectable. Accordingly, it is possible to determine which target sequence is in a sample based on which fluorescently labeled incoming oligonucleotide is present in the complex. This result indicates that stable double D-loops may be used to detect a single-nucleotide
  • Hyg- gene We compare this to a genomic prep of Mata-intHyg + strain which contains an integrated Hyg + gene.
  • the cells are added to a flask with 10 ml of complete cell culture media and we incubate them at 37°C for 72 o hours.
  • fixative solution o drop by drop, mixing gently after each addition wth the pipet, until the final volume reaches about 2 ml. We then add a larger amount of fixative solution to bring the total volume to 10 ml. We then use these cells directly or store them in a refrigerator overnight.
  • the slides are incubated sequentially with incoming and annealing oligonucleotides complementary to a desired genomic target.
  • oligonucleotides complementary to a desired genomic target.
  • One of these oligonucleotides is labeled with a detectable moiety o which is monitored to detect the formation of a stable double D-loop.
  • HygLNAI ⁇ T as the annealing oligo.
  • double D-loop band increases in proportion to copy number of the inserted gene. This indicates that detection of double D-loop 5 formation can be used to quantify amplification of a target duplex nucleic acid molecule, including a target gene such a ERB2 and c-Myc.
  • Oligonucleotides are complementary to each other as follows: OligoA and OligoB are complementary; LD26G and UD26C are complementary; LD26G is 5 complementary to OligoA such that LD26G hybridizes approximately in the center of OligoA; and UD26C is complementary to OligoB such that UD25C hybridizes approximately in the center of OligoB.
  • Target plasmids mt ( "mutant " ) : pAURHyg (rep) eGFP WT ("wild type"): pAURHyg (wt) eGFP
  • the plasmids are each 7982 bp, and differ in a single nucleotide. As a consequence of plasmid purification, a subset of the plasmids are no longer supercoiled, having been nicked or otherwise broken, Upon gel electrophoresis, a single band having various nonsupercoiled topoisomers can be observed.
  • Incoming oligonucleotides are HPLC purified, and have the following sequences.
  • WT HYG(NT)D5Cy3/31A(wt) (5' -Cy3-atttacccgcaggacatatccacgccctcct-3' )
  • Annealing oligonucleotides are composed of PNA, with an acetyl group ("Ac") to block a free reactive primary amine.
  • the annealing oligonucleotides are used as received from Applied Biosystems, Inc. (crude prep),
  • WT HYG(T)PNA/15T (Ac-gtggatatgtcctgc)
  • the target in these experiments is one of two nonsupercoiled plasmids of about 8 kb, differing in a single nucleotide.
  • the incoming oligonucleotides are 31-mer deoxyribonucleotides labeled at the ⁇ ' terminus with either Cy ⁇ or Cy3; the annealing oligonucleotides are 1 ⁇ -mer PNA oligonucleotides acetylated at the N terminus.
  • Deproteinization is performed by adding SDS at either 37°C or 4 ⁇ °C to aliquots of the reaction mixture and incubating at the indicated temperature for various amounts of time, after which time the aliquots are removed and placed on dry ice. Two gels are run separately, but scanned at the same time to allow a direct comparison. Results are shown in FIGS, 18A and 18B for the 37°C deproteinization data only,
  • results shown in FIG, 18A demonstrate that the single nucleotide difference in the target query region can readily be distinguished, with stable double D loops (stable to deproteinization and subsequent electrophoresis) observed only when the annealing oligonucleotide and incoming oligonucleotide exactly match the target, i o
  • discrimination among target variants differing by a single nucleotide is achieved in the presence of a mixture of differentially labeled incoming oligonucleotides, demonstrating the ability to multiplex these assays.
  • the gels demonstrate that the targets having stable double D loops are readily separated from those without, making possible the isolation of desired 15 allelic variants.
  • lanes 6 and 7 of FIG. 18B suggest that stable double D loops are formed on the mutant (mt) target with a mismatched annealing oligonucleotide (wt PNA), these data are not representative, and may be due to the bright background in this part of the gel, which may artificially enhance the signals to detectable levels; most of our gels 2 o show no formation of stable double D loops unless all oligos (incoming and annealing) are perfectly matched to target.
  • wt PNA mismatched annealing oligonucleotide
  • Targets are the same as in Example 21: 8 kb nonsupercoiled plasmids differing in a single nucleotide.
  • mt pAURHyg (rep) eGFP
  • WT pAURHyg (wt) eGFP
  • Incoming oligonucleotides are HPLC purified.
  • WT HYG(NT)D5Cy3/31A(wt) (5 ' Cy3-atttacccgcaggacatatccacgccctcct-3 ' )
  • Annealing oligos Annealing oligos containing LNA residues, synthesized by Proligo, are used as a crude prep. In the sequences listed below, LNA residues are prefixed by a "+” sign and deoxyribonucleotide residues are prefixed by a lower case “d” .
  • mt HYGLNA15T
  • FIG. 19 shows data from reactions stopped by addition of SDS at 37°C followed by immediate freezing on dry ice
  • FIG. 20 shows data from reactions stopped by addition of SDS at 37°C followed by 2, ⁇ minute and ⁇ minute incubations at 37°C, as indicated, prior to freezing on dry ice.
  • results shown in FIGS. 19 and 20 demonstrate that stable double D loops are formed only when both annealing and incoming oligonucleotides are perfectly matched to target.
  • the annealing oligonucleotide comprises LNA residues, rather than PNA residues.
  • the data further demonstrate that single nucleotide variants of this ⁇ kb nonsupercoiled plasmid can be distinguished when both the incoming and annealing oligonucleotides are present in admixture, demonstrating the robust multiplexing capabilities of this approach.
  • Results are shown in FIG. 21 : times represent duration of incubation at 5 37°C following addition of SDS and before chilling.
  • double D loops are seen when both annealing and incoming oligonucleotides are perfectly matched to the target area of the ⁇ kb linear target.
  • Incoming oligonucleotides are HPLC purified 25 and have the following sequences:
  • LNA-containing annealing oligonucleotides are used as a crude prep, as synthesized by 5 Proligo. LNA residues are prefixed by "+”, deoxyribonucleotides are prefixed by "d”.
  • FIG. 22 demonstrates that either the incoming or annealing oligo o nucleotides may be labeled. Under the indicated conditions, signal is stronger when the annealing oligonucleotide, rather than incoming oligonucleotide, is labeled. Not shown, both may be labeled.
  • Example 24 We use reaction conditions and oligonucleotides as in Example 24 (FIG. o 22), except that incubation temperatures are varied. The reactions are incubated for each step of complex formation at 8 temperatures: 22, 27, 32, 37, 45, 50, 56, and 60 degrees Celsius.
  • the oligonucleotides are Cy ⁇ labeled and unlabeled 4 ⁇ mers as the incoming oligonucleotide, and Cy ⁇ labeled and unlabeled LNA I ⁇ mers as the annealing 5 oligonucleotide.
  • the final concentration of the reaction is 7.5 ⁇ M RecA, 1 ⁇ M incoming Oligo, 1x synaptic comp buffer, 4.7nM target (linearized pAurHyg(rep)eGFP plasmid), 1 ,82 ⁇ ⁇ M annealing oligo.
  • Cy ⁇ labeled incoming is used alone to show the need for the annealing oligo.
  • Cy ⁇ labeled 5 incoming is used with an unlabelled 1 ⁇ mer LNA
  • unlabelled incoming is used with a labeled Cy ⁇ annealing
  • Cy ⁇ labeled annealing is used without an incoming to show the need for the RecA filament.
  • Results are shown in FIG. 23. As can be seen, minimal formation of double D-loops (indicated by arrows) is seen with incubations below about 37°C, with o increasing formation from 37°C to about ⁇ °C. At 6 ⁇ °C, formation is reduced.
  • optimal temperature for double D-loop formation on this target is 60 - ⁇ °C using a 4 ⁇ -mer incoming oligonucleotide and 1 ⁇ -mer LNA containing annealing oligonucleotide,
  • mismatch discrimination directed by mixed labeled annealing oligos is superior to mismatch discrimination using labeled incoming oligos: we get enhanced sensitivity of the assay with reduced background; clean mismatch discrimination is observed regardless of the topology of the DNA target, with linear and supercoiled DNA targets showing clean mismatched discrimination with no mixed signals.
  • experiments are performed to assess the dependence of mismatch discrimination on the length of incoming and annealing oligonucleotides.
  • Reaction conditions for forming double D-loops are essentially as set forth in Example 21, above, with incubations at 37°C.
  • Results are shown in FIG. 25, and demonstrate that the ability to 5 discriminate mismatches is strongly dependent upon the size of both the incoming and annealing oligonucleotides, providing a narrow range for mismatch discrimination.
  • the annealing oligonucleotide must be more than 13 nt in length to achieve dDloop formation, and can be as large as 25 nt,
  • the incoming oligonucleotide must be at least 23 nt in length and can be as large as 35 nt for o precise genotyping, with incoming oligonucleotides of 39 nt or larger giving a mixed signal, losing mismatch fidelity.
  • dDloops are formed on an 8 kb linearized plasmid using 32 P-radiolabeled oligonucleotides.
  • dDloops are formed on the identical target using fluorescently labeled oligonucleotides.
  • FIG. 26 demonstrates that, using a fluorescent label, an 8 kb linear plasmid 5 target can be detected down to 1.0 ng.
  • Radioactive dDLoop Synthesis A 1 ⁇ -minute presynapsis step is performed at 37°C using 40 nM 32 P-
  • the synapsis phase is begun with the addition of double stranded target and an additional 9 mM Mg(OAc) 2 for ⁇ minutes. The amount of double stranded target is varied.
  • the final concentration of the target in solution is 10 nM.
  • Linear pAURHyg(rep) target concentration is 0,73 ⁇ g.
  • Saccharomyces cerevisiae replacement genomic DNA is 3.6 ⁇ nM.
  • Sacharomyces cerevisae replacement genomic DNA is 7.3 ⁇ g/ ⁇ l.
  • HT1060 human genomic DNA is 7,3 ⁇ g/ ⁇ l.
  • Double displacement loops are formed with the addition of required 320 nM 32 P-1 ⁇ mer O-methyl RNA annealing oligonucleotide (to T strand), followed by an additional incubation at 37°C occurred for 10 minutes. After stopping the reaction in dry ice, the joint molecules are deproteinated by the addition of 1% SDS and associated protein removed by adding KCI (4°C) to a 100 mM concentration and spinning the solution at 3,000 rpm for ⁇ min at 4°C.
  • This Example demonstrates sequence-specific detection of a clinically relevant gene target present within a PCR amplification product.
  • the PCR product is purified from the amplification template.
  • the Example further demonstrates the ability to detect double D loops formed using oligonucleotides that have biotin as capture moiety.
  • FIG. 27A shows that double D loops are detectable in the PCR product only when RecA and both incoming and annealing oligonucleotides are present
  • FIG. 27B is the same gel, post-stained with ethidium bromide, showing approximately equal amounts of target in each reaction.
  • EXAMPLE 30 CONTEXT INDEPENDENCE OF DETECTION
  • genes relevant to human disease are discriminably 5 detected in PCR amplification products using identical conditions, indicating that allelic discrimination is possible independently of the genomic context of the polymorphism.
  • the genes are k-RAS, p ⁇ 3, and beta globin.
  • Annealing oligonucleotides with PNA (designated by IP in the oligonucleotide name) and LNA (designated by /L in the oligonucleotide name) are each used effectively.
  • l o The oligonucleotides used are the following:
  • T4 Gene 2 is used to relax the plasmid targets with similar results.
  • the mixture of relaxed closed circular plasmids are then subjected to double D-loop based separation and purification using a 31 -mer incoming oligonucleotide biotinylated at its 3' terminus and a 20-mer PNA annealing oligonucleotide, both specific for a portion of the kanamycin resistance gene,
  • the post-separation mixture is transformed into E. coli, and aliquots plated on media containing either kanamycin or tetracycline. Results are enumerated in columns 4 and ⁇ ("Colonies (PostSep)").
  • Oligonucleotide sequences are set forth below. The separation protocols are similar to those used in Example 15, with differences highlighted below.
  • pKAN + is a kanamycin-resistant plasmid having the wild-type kanamycin resistance gene.
  • PKAN- is identical to pKAN + except for a point mutation that converts the wild-type codon "tat” to "tag”, inactivating the kanamycin resistance gene,
  • CNV B1 , CNV D3, and CNV D ⁇ is a pool of plasmids in which the mutant "tag” has been targeted, in three separate experiments, for alteration to "tac”.
  • "TAC” at the relevant codon restores the wild-type phenotype (kanamycin resistance), but with a detectably altered genotype ("tac” rather than "tat”).
  • Targeted alteration is performed using modified oligonucleotides according to procedures set forth in U.S. patent application serial no, 09/818,875, filed March 27, 2001 , and in WO 01/73002, the disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference in their entireties.
  • each of the pools targeted for gene alteration contains converted plasmids, with pool B1 having 5%, pool D3 having 69%, and pool D5 having 10% "tac” (Kan CNV) plasmids, as reported by the SnaPshot system.
  • Kan + plasmids As an independent measure of the percentage of Kan + plasmids, an aliquot of each sample is transformed into E. coli and aliquots of the transformed bacteria plated separately on kanamycin-containing and ampicillin-containing media, with results as shown in columns 3, 4 and 5 ("Colonies (presep)"). As expected, nearly all plasmids in the pKAN + sample are kan R ; conversely, no kan R plasmids are seen among pKAN- transformants. Among the gene- altered pools of plasmids, the percentage kan R plasmids is similar but nonidentical to the percentages suggested by SnaPshotTM genotyping.
  • Results shown in columns 6, 7 and 8 show that purification of tetR plasmids is effected in the pKAN + and all three pools of converted plasmids, but not from the pKAN- 5 sample.
  • the presence of kanR plasmids in the aliquot purified from the pKAN + sample demonstrate that the double D-loops form in this supercoiled plasmid without perfect discrimination between the wild-type "tat" sequence and converted "tac” sequence.
  • plasmids obtained from the gene-altered pools of plasmids are kan R .
  • the o YACs contain human beta-globin genomic DNA, differing in the ⁇ globin allele: one has the wild-type ⁇ globin allele ( ⁇ A ), the other the sickle cell mutation ( ⁇ s ) (Peterson ef. al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA (1993)).
  • BGIoAWT/ ⁇ 'Cy3/20Me as the incoming oligonucleotide, and either BGIoAWT/ ⁇ 'Cy3/20Me, BGIoAWT/20Me, BGloAWT/L, or BGIoAWT/P, as the annealing oligo.
  • BGIoAWT/ ⁇ 'Cy3/20Me BGIoAWT/20Me
  • BGloAWT/L BGIoAWT/P
  • the above two annealing oligonucleotides include 2'-OMe residues, indicated by the prefix "m”.
  • This annealing oligonucleotide includes LNA residues, indicated by the prefix "+”.
  • This annealing oligonucleotide is entirely composed of PNA residues; an acetylated terminus is indicated.
  • FIG. 30 Lanes
  • Lane 1 no annealing, labeled cy5 31 mer incoming 5
  • Lane 2 labeled cy5 31 mer incoming, unlabeled
  • Lane 3 labeled cy5 31 mer incoming, labeled cy3
  • Lane 4 unlabeled cy5 31 mer incoming, labeled 0 cy3 2 ' omethyl 15 mer annealing
  • Lane 5 no incoming, labeled cy 3 2 Omethyl 15 mer
  • genomic DNA prepared from cultured cells as target, we o demonstrate that we can discriminate a single base pair change in a Hyg target integrated into human genomic DNA.

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Abstract

Procédés et compositions pour la détection et la séparation de polymorphismes. Les procédés peuvent être facilement multiplexés et adaptés à divers systèmes de détection existants, et permettent d'amplifier une cible sans PCR. Ces procédés permettent d'isoler sélectivement des variantes alléliques, avec ou sans détection simultanée, et sont particulièrement utiles pour former des collections de cellules co-isogéniques dans lesquelles les cellules diffèrent du point de vue génotypique par des modifications d'un seul nucléotide à des loci définis.
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EP1992706B1 (fr) 2002-02-21 2014-11-19 Alere San Diego, Inc. Amplification par recombinase et polymérase
DE10353419B3 (de) * 2003-11-09 2005-06-30 Epigenomics Ag Verfahren zur Untersuchung von Cytosin-Methylierungen in DNA-Sequenzen mittels hemimethylierungssensitiver Restriktionsenzyme
ES2718482T3 (es) * 2004-06-01 2019-07-02 Alere San Diego Inc Kit para amplificación de recombinasa polimerasa
ES2420831T3 (es) 2005-07-25 2013-08-27 Alere San Diego, Inc. Procedimientos para multiplexar la ampliación de la recombinasa polimerasa
EP1943358B1 (fr) * 2005-09-12 2015-03-04 Government of the USA, as Represented by the Secretary, Department of Health and Human Services Genotype cyp1b1
CA2650993C (fr) 2006-05-04 2015-06-16 Asm Scientific, Inc. Amplification par recombinase polymerase
WO2010135310A1 (fr) 2009-05-20 2010-11-25 Biosite Incorporated Glycosylase/lyase d'adn et substrats d'endonucléase ap
EP2438196B1 (fr) 2009-06-05 2016-12-21 Alere San Diego, Inc. Réactifs et kits d'amplification par recombinase polymérase
EP3978620A1 (fr) 2011-04-07 2022-04-06 Abbott Diagnostics Scarborough, Inc. Surveillance de mélanges d'amplification de recombinase-polymérase
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