Patent ID: 8492094

Claim:
A method of detecting a target nucleic acid analyte, comprising: (a) contacting a mixture of nucleic acid analytes comprising one or more target nucleic acid analytes with a plurality of target specific probes, wherein each target specific probe comprises (i) a target specific region that binds to one target nucleic acid analyte and (ii) a region to which is attached a plurality of label monomers that create a unique label for each target specific probe, said label having a detectable signal that distinguishes one target specific probe which binds to a first target nucleic acid from another target specific probe that binds to a different second target nucleic acid, further wherein the contacting is made under conditions sufficient for hybridization of at least one target specific probe to at least one target nucleic acid analyte, (b) stretching said at least one nucleic acid analyte hybridized to said target specific probe using a flow-stretch technique, thereby spatially separating said label monomers on at least one said target specific probe, and (c) detecting the position or order of the spatially separated label monomers in the unique label attached to the at least one target specific probe that is hybridized to a target nucleic acid analyte, wherein said detected unique label for each target specific probe uniquely identifies each target specific analyte, thereby detecting the one or more target nucleic acid analytes.