Methods of detecting sequence differences

A method of determining, for a given nucleic acid sample, the identities of the nucleotides at a set of known polymorphic sites to be interrogated, said method comprising:

• a) subjecting to an amplification regimen, a population of primer extension products generated from a nucleic acid sample, each primer extension product comprising a first tag sequence or its complement and a member of a set of second tag sequences or its complement, the presence of which second tag sequence or its complement specifically corresponds to the presence of one specific nucleotide at a known polymorphic site, wherein for each polymorphic site in said set of polymorphic sites, said first tag sequence is located at a distinct distance 5′ of said polymorphic site, relative to the distance of said first tag sequence from a polymorphic site on molecules in said sample containing other polymorphic sites, wherein said amplification regimen is performed using an upstream amplification primer comprising said first tag sequence, and a set of distinguishably labeled downstream amplification primers, each member of said set of downstream amplification primers comprising a said tag sequence comprised by a member of said population of primer extension products and a distinguishable label that specifically corresponds to the presence of a specific nucleotide at said polymorphic site, and wherein said upstream amplification primers are selected such that each polymorphic site of said set of known polymorphic sites to be interrogated corresponds to a distinctly sized amplification product;
• b) detecting incorporation of a distinguishable label in distinctly sized amplification products, thereby to determine the identity of the nucleotide at each said polymorphic site.

A method of determining the identities of single nucleotides present at a group of known polymorphic sites, said method comprising:

• I) providing a nucleic acid sample comprising said group of polymorphic sites;
• II) separating the strands of said nucleic acid sample and re-annealing in the presence of:
• a) a set of first oligonucleotide primers each comprising a 3′ region that hybridizes to a sequence at a known distance upstream of a known polymorphic site, each member of said set of first oligonucleotide primers comprising a common sequence tag located 5′ of said 3′ region, and each member of said set of first oligonucleotide primers selected such that a distinctly sized amplification product is generated for each polymorphic site in said group of known polymorphic sites;
• and
• b) a set of downstream amplification primers comprising, in 5′ to 3′ order:
• i) a sequence tag selected from the group consisting of a tag specifically corresponding to G as the 3′-terminal nucleotide of said primer;
• a tag specifically corresponding to A as the 3′-terminal nucleotide of said primer;
• a tag specifically corresponding to T as the 3′-terminal nucleotide of said primer;
• and a tag specifically corresponding to C as the 3′-terminal nucleotide of said primer;
• ii) a region that specifically hybridizes to a sequence adjacent to and 3′ of a polymorphic site in said group of polymorphic sites, wherein said set of downstream amplification primers comprises a subset of primers comprising a region that specifically hybridizes adjacent to said polymorphic site for each polymorphic site in said group of polymorphic sites;
• and
• iii) a 3′ terminal nucleotide selected from G, A, T or C, wherein said terminal nucleotide specifically corresponds to the sequence tag described in (i) on that downstream amplification primer, and wherein when said downstream amplification primer is hybridized to said sequence adjacent to and 3′ of a polymorphic site, said 3′ terminal nucleotide is opposite said polymorphic site;
• III) contacting the annealed oligonucleotides resulting from step (II) with a nucleic acid polymerase under conditions that permit the extension of an annealed oligonucleotide such that extension products are generated, wherein the primer extension product from the first oligonucleotide primer, when separated from its complement, can serve as a template for the synthesis of the extension product of as member of the set of second oligonucleotide primers, and vice versa;
• IV) repeating strand separating and contacting steps (II) and (III) two times, such that a reaction mixture comprising a population of nucleic acid molecules is generated that comprises both a sequence identical to or complementary to said first oligonucleotide and a sequence identical to or complementary to a member of said set of downstream amplification primers;
• V) contacting the population generated in step (IV) with a heat-labile exonuclease under conditions permitting the degradation of non-annealed oligonucleotide primers, such that non-annealed primers are degraded;
• VI) thermally inactivating said heat-labile exonuclease;
• VII) subjecting said population of nucleic acid molecules to an amplification regimen, wherein said amplification regimen is performed using an upstream amplification primer comprising the common sequence tag comprised by said first oligonucleotide primer, and a set of downstream amplification primers, each member of said set of downstream amplification primers comprising a tag comprised by a member of said set of second oligonucleotide primers and a distinguishable label;
• and
• VIII) detecting incorporation of at least one distinguishable label, thereby determining the identities of the nucleotides present at said known polymorphic sites.