Patent ID: 6928368

Claim:
A method to design primers which identify and target a first nucleotide sequence wherein the expression of said first nucleotide sequence results in at least one phenotypic characteristic, the method comprising the steps of: providing a second nucleotide sequence that is known to result in the phenotypic characteristic wherein the first nucleotide sequence and second nucleotide sequence are derived from different species; comparing the second nucleotide sequence to nucleotide sequences cataloged in one or more databases that annotate nucleotide sequences with phenotypic characteristics; extracting any cataloged nucleotide sequences that contain a portion of the second nucleotide sequence and which are annotated with said phenotypic characteristic; aligning the second nucleotide sequence to each extracted nucleotide sequence; prioritizing according to statistical analysis the extracted nucleotide sequences based on at least percent similarity with sequences having the highest percent similarity being highest in priority to ensure alignment to the second nucleotide sequence as determined by said statistical analysis; and designing one or more primers based on matching portions of the aligned prioritized sequences, which primers identify and target said first nucleotide sequence.