Patent ID: 9222122
Filing Date: 2015-12-29
Classification: C12Q

Abstract:
1. A method for identifying which of a plurality of nucleic acid tag varieties are present on an item of interest, the method comprising the steps of: creating a plurality of nucleic acid tag varieties, wherein each nucleic acid tag variety comprises a nucleotide-support platform attached to a nucleic acid molecule, the nucleic acid molecule of each nucleic acid tag variety comprising a first and a second universal primer region common to all nucleic acid tag varieties, and a first and a second unique primer region unique to each nucleic acid tag variety; deploying the plurality of nucleic acid tag varieties in a plurality of locations, wherein a single one of the plurality nucleic acid varieties is deployed in a distinct one of the plurality of locations; receiving samples from the item of interest, wherein the object has traveled through at least one of the plurality of locations after deployment of the nucleic acid tag varieties; performing a first screen of each of the samples with a polymerase chain reaction comprising a primer set complementary to the first and second universal primer regions, wherein the presence of one or more of the plurality of nucleic acid tag varieties is confirmed if the polymerase chain reaction results in an amplification product; and performing, on each of the samples for which the presence of one or more of the plurality of nucleic acid tag varieties was confirmed in the first screen, a second screen comprising a series of multiplex polymerase chain reactions, wherein each multiplex polymerase chain reaction comprises a primer set complementary to the first and second unique primer regions of a subset of two or more of the plurality of nucleic acid tag varieties, and wherein the presence of one or more of the nucleic acid tag varieties within the subset is confirmed if the multiplex polymerase chain reaction results in an amplification product.