Patent ID: 8145433

Claim:
A method for identifying a nucleic acid in a sample including at least one unknown nucleic acid, said method comprising the steps of: (a) fitting denaturation data including measurements of a quantifiable physical change P of the sample at a plurality of independent sample property points x to a function P(x, Q) to determine an intrinsic physical value Q and to obtain an estimated physical change function, wherein the intrinsic physical value Q is an intrinsic physical value associated with the nucleic acid, and the quantifiable physical change P is associated with the denaturation of a nucleic acid; and, (b) identifying the nucleic acid in the biological sample by comparing the intrinsic physical value Q for at least one unknown nucleic acid to an intrinsic physical value Q for a known nucleic acid; wherein Q is one or more fitting parameters Y, Z and W and the denaturation data is fit to one or more of these fitting parameters to determine one or more intrinsic physical values Y, Z and W, wherein all of the intrinsic physical values Y, Z and W are determined and compared, and wherein said fitting step is performed by fitting the denaturation data to an equation of the form P ⁡ ( T , T m ) = B + ∑ i = 1 n ⁢ P i , ⁢ wherein ( Eq . ⁢ 1 ) P i = 2 ⁢ A i ⁢ g i ⁢ ⅇ [ - k ⁡ ( T - T m i ) ] , ( Eq . ⁢ 2 ) g i = 1 + 1 4 ⁢ ⅇ [ Δ ⁢ ⁢ H i R ⁢ ( 1 T m i - 1 T ) ] - ( 1 + 1 4 ⁢ ⅇ [ Δ ⁢ ⁢ H i R ⁢ ( 1 T m i - 1 T ) ] ) 2 - 1 , ( Eq . ⁢ 3 ) and wherein B is the baseline measurement of the quantifiable physical property in absence of the sample, A i is the amplitude of the measurement of the quantifiable physical property of the ith nucleic acid present in the sample, ΔH i is the van't Hoff enthalpy of denaturation of the ith nucleic acid present in the sample, T m(i) is the melting temperature of the ith nucleic acid present in the sample, and R is the universal gas constant.