Patent ID: 7785790

Claim:
A method of making an immobilized nucleic acid molecule array comprising: a) providing an immobilized array of spots of a nucleic acid capture activity selected from the group consisting of: a hydrophobic compound; a hydrophilic compound; a compound which reacts covalently with a nucleic acid molecule; a capture ligand; an oligonucleotide; an antibody; a fragment of an antibody; a protein; a peptide; an intercalator; biotin; avidin; and streptavidin on a first substrate wherein: i) said spots are separated by a distance greater than the diameter of said spots; and ii) the size of said spots is less than the diameter of the excluded volume of said nucleic acid molecule to be captured; and b) contacting said array of spots of a nucleic acid capture activity with an excess of nucleic acid molecules capable of being bound by said nucleic acid capture activity, said nucleic acid molecules having an excluded volume diameter greater than the diameter of said spots, resulting in an array of immobilized nucleic acid molecules in which said nucleic acid capture activity binds only one of said nucleic acid molecules having an excluded volume greater than the size of said spots.