Patent ID: 8709726

Claim:
A method for identifying the presence or absence of Y-chromosome nucleic acid in extracellular nucleic acid from a pregnant female, which comprises: (a) contacting under amplification conditions extracellular nucleic acid from a pregnant female with three or more primer sets selected from the group consisting of: SEQ SEQ ID corresponding ID first primer NO: second primer NO: AGATGGCTCTAGAGAATCCC 104 GCATTTTCCACTGGTATCCC 137 TTTCCTCTCTCTCCACCCC 105 AAAGTTGCCTTTCTGCCTGC 138 AGAGAAGGCGGATTCCTTTG 106 GAAGTTGGGAGAGTTACTCG 139 ACGAAGGGCTACTTCTCTAC 107 CTCTGGCTAGCATCACAATG 136 GAACCTCAGGCTCTTTGTCC 108 TCTATTCTTGCCGAGAGACC 140 ATGACCCCAAAAGCACAGAC 109 TCCCTCTGTGGTACAGAAAC 141 TCCCAGACTGAAATCCCAAG 110 TCGAATTTGATTCCCAGAGG 142 CTGGCCCTACGAATTTGTTG 111 GTCAGGAGATCGAGACAATC; 143 wherein (i) the nucleic acid comprises maternal nucleic acid and fetal nucleic acid, (ii) each primer of each primer set hybridizes to Y-chromosome nucleic acid, and (iii) each primer set consists of a first primer and a corresponding second primer; and (b) detecting the presence or absence of amplification products from three or more of the primer sets, whereby the presence of Y-chromosome nucleic acid is based on detecting the presence of the amplification products and whereby the absence of Y-chromosome nucleic acid is based on detecting the absence of the amplification products.