Patent ID: 7255992

Claim:
A method of identifying one or more bioagents in a sample comprising the steps of: selecting at least one pair of oligonucleotide primers, wherein one member of said pair of primers hybridizes to a first conserved region of nucleic acid encoding a ribosomal RNA and the other member of said pair of primers hybridizes to a second conserved region of nucleic acid encoding said ribosomal RNA wherein said first and second conserved regions flank a variable nucleic acid region that when amplified creates unique base composition signatures among at least eight bioagents; obtaining a sample suspected of comprising at least one bioagent; amplifying nucleic acid from one or more of said at least one bioagent with said pair of oligonucleotide primers to produce an amplification product; determining the molecular mass of said amplification product by mass spectrometry; calculating the base composition of said amplification product from said molecular mass; and identifying one or more of said at least one bioagent in said sample by comparing said calculated base composition to nineteen or more previously calculated or measured base compositions of amplification products from known bioagents, the amplification products being produced by using said at least one pair of primers.