Patent ID: 7537897
Filing Date: 2009-05-26
Classification: C12Q

Abstract:
1. A method of determining a number of target molecules in a sample, the method comprising the steps of: (a) providing molecule-tag conjugates each comprising an oligonucleotide tag such that substantially every different molecule of the sample is attached to a different oligonucleotide tag, each oligonucleotide tag comprising a concatenation of subunits selected from a set of subunits, each subunit being a different nucleotide or oligonucleotide and having a position, and the set of subunits having a size of from 2 to 6 members; (b) dividing the oligonucleotide tags of the molecule-tag conjugates into aliquots by sorting the oligonucleotide tags according to the identity of a subunit within a first or a successive position; and (c) repeating step (b) for at least one aliquot in each successive application of step (b) until at least one aliquot has no oligonucleotide tags that can be separated into aliquots and determining the number of molecules in the sample from the number of times step (b) has been applied.