Patent ID: 7074569

Claim:
A method for detecting a plurality of selected nucleotide sequences within one or more target nucleic acids, comprising: contacting at least one or more target nucleic acids with a plurality of mobility-modified sequence-specific nucleobase polymers under conditions that distinguish those nucleobase polymers that hybridize to the target nucleic acid, wherein each said nucleobase polymer is a mobility-modified sequence-specific nucleobase polymer comprising a mobility-modifying polymer linked to a sequence-specific nucleobase polymer, according to Structural formula (II) or (III): or a salt thereof, wherein: R 2 is selected from the group consisting of alkyl comprising at least two carbon atoms, aryl, (R 8 ) 3 Siâ€” where each R 8 is independently selected from the group consisting of linear and branched chain alkyl and aryl, base-stable protecting groups, and R 5 â€”Xâ€”[(CH 2 ) a â€”O] b â€”(CH 2 ) a â€”; each R 10 is independently selected from the group consisting of hydrogen and R 2 ; R 5 is selected from the group consisting of hydrogen, protecting group, reporter molecule, and ligand; each R 4 is independently selected from the group consisting of hydrogen and R 2 ; each X is independently selected from the group consisting of O, S, NH and NHâ€”C(O); each a is independently an integer from 1 to 6; each b is independently an integer from 0 to 40; each d is independently an integer from 1 to 200; and OLIGO comprises a sequence-specific nucleobase polymer, with the proviso that at least one R 10 or at least one R 4 is other than hydrogen, wherein the mobility-modifying polymer comprises at least one phosphotriester linkage, and wherein each said nucleobase polymer has a distinctive ratio of charge to translational frictional drag; and detecting those nucleobase polymer that have hybridized to the target nucleic acid.