Patent ID: 8017358
Filing Date: 2011-09-13
Classification: C12Q

Abstract:
1. A method of identifying an unknown bioagent by producing an ionized bioagent characterizing amplification product comprising: aligning a gene sequence from a plurality of bioagent genomes to form an alignment; selecting a gene region from said alignment comprising a region of variability defined by no more than 5% sequence identity among said plurality of bioagent genomes, which is flanked by a first and a second conserved region, each having 80% to 100% sequence identity among said plurality of bioagent genomes; identifying said first and second conserved regions as primer binding sites; designing a pair of primers comprising a first primer hybridizable to said first conserved region and second primer hybridizable to said second conserved region such that a plurality of amplification products of lengths of about 46 to 166 nucleobases can be produced upon amplification of said gene region with said pair of primers, wherein at least 8 of said plurality of amplification products have unique base compositions, wherein said base compositions that are present in a database identify the number, but not the nucleic acid gene sequence order, of A residues, C residues, T residues, G residues, U residues, analogues thereof and mass tag residues thereof in said amplification products; amplifying a nucleic acid from an unknown bioagent with said pair of primers to produce a bioagent characterizing amplification product; ionizing said amplification product; determining the base composition of said ionized amplification product; comparing said base composition of said ionized amplification product with said database containing said base compositions of said plurality of amplification products; and identifying said unknown bioagent using said base composition of said ionized amplification product without sequencing said ionized amplification product.