Patent ID: 8911944

Claim:
A method for identifying a polymorphism of nucleic acid molecules comprising: (a) preparing a sample solution comprising a first nucleic acid probe, which is labeled with a fluorescent substance and specifically hybridizes with a single-stranded nucleic acid molecule comprising a first type of base sequence in a polymorphic sequence, and a target nucleic acid molecule; (b) hybridizing nucleic acid molecules in the sample solution prepared in (a); (c) calculating the number of molecules of hybrids comprising the first nucleic acid probe in the sample solution prepared in (a) after carrying out (b) that comprises: using the optics of a confocal microscope or multiphoton microscope to move the location of a photodetection region of the optics in the sample solution, moving the location of the photodetection region of the optics in the sample solution while detecting fluorescence emitted from the hybrids in the photodetection region, individually detecting hybrids by individually detecting optical signals from each hybrid among the detected light, and counting the number of the target nucleic acid molecule detected during movement of the location of the photodetection region by counting the number of individually detected hybrids; (d) preparing a sample solution comprising a second nucleic acid probe, which is labeled with a fluorescent substance and in which the base sequence thereof differs from the base sequence of the first nucleic acid probe, and the target nucleic acid molecule; (e) hybridizing the nucleic acid molecules in the sample solution prepared in (d); (f) calculating the number of molecules of hybrids comprising the second nucleic acid probe in the sample solution prepared in (d) after carrying out (e) that comprises: using the optics of a confocal microscope or multiphoton microscope to move the location of a photodetection region of the optics in the sample solution, moving the location of the photodetection region of the optics in the sample solution while detecting fluorescence emitted from the hybrids in the photodetection region, individually detecting hybrids by individually detecting optical signals from each hybrid among the detected light, and counting the number of the target nucleic acid molecule detected during movement of the location of the photodetection region by counting the number of individually detected hybrids; and, (g) identifying a polymorphism of the target nucleic acid molecule based on the results of (c) and (f).