Patent ID: 7943305

Claim:
A method of sequencing a nucleic acid molecule, comprising: forming on a support a complex comprising the nucleic acid molecule, an oligonucleotide primer, and a polymerase comprising a donor fluorophore; exposing the complex to a plurality of types of labeled nucleotide, each type of labeled nucleotide comprises an acceptor fluorophore that is distinguishable from acceptor fluorophores of other types of labeled nucleotides, and the fluorophore of each type of labeled nucleotide is attached to a phosphate portion of the nucleotide such that the fluorophore is removed upon incorporation into a growing strand, wherein at least one of the donor fluorophore of the polymerase and the acceptor fluorophore of the nucleotide comprises a fluorescent nanoparticle, and wherein a fluorescent signal is emitted via fluorescent resonance energy transfer between the donor fluorophore of the polymerase and the acceptor fluorophore of the nucleotide as each nucleotide is incorporated into the growing strand which is complementary to the sample nucleic acid molecule; and detecting the signal as each nucleotide is incorporated into the growing strand.