Patent ID: 7468250

Claim:
A method for screening for nucleic acid duplex stability by competitive equilibria comprising: (a) providing a solution comprising a known amount of an initial nucleic acid duplex with a known stability, said initial nucleic acid duplex comprising a first nucleic acid strand having a sequence wholly or in part homologous to a target strand of a target nucleic acid molecule and a second nucleic acid strand having a sequence wholly or in part complementary to said target strand of said target nucleic acid molecule; and (b) titrating said solution with a second solution comprising a known concentration of said target nucleic acid molecule, wherein said target nucleic acid molecule is single- or double-stranded, and wherein said titration comprises: (i) adding said second solution to the solution of step (a); (ii) subjecting the solution generated in step (i) to conditions which disrupt said initial nucleic acid duplex of step (a) and any duplex or triplex formed in step (i) between said target strand and said second nucleic acid strand of said initial nucleic acid duplex of step (a), but which do not disrupt said target nucleic acid molecule when double-stranded; (iii) subjecting the solution generated in step (ii) to conditions which promote duplex or triplex formation; and (iv) monitoring the solution of step (iii) for changes in the amount of initial nucleic acid duplex formed as a function of the amount of target nucleic acid molecule added, thereby determining the stability of the nucleic acid duplex or triplex formed in step (iv) comprising the target nucleic acid molecule and the second nucleic acid strand of the initial nucleic acid duplex of step (a).