Patent ID: 7771949

Claim:
A kit of reagents for use in a highly multiplexed in vitro assay to screen a sample for the presence of any of a minimum of six different nucleic acid targets comprising a set of at least six fluorescent hybridization probes, each probe specific for a different one of said nucleic acid targets, wherein: a) each probe in said set is subdivided into the same number of portions that hybridize to the same sequence of the nucleic acid target, said number being in the range of from two to four, b) each portion is labeled with a different fluorophore from a panel of at least four spectrally differentiable fluorophores, and c) the portions of each probe are mixed to create the probe having a unique color signal pattern, and wherein hybridization of each probe leads to a detectable fluorescent signal change indicative of the color pattern of the labeling of its portions.