Nucleic acid classification

A method for classifying a target nucleic acid, the method comprising:

• exposing, in a test system, a plurality of capture probes to the target nucleic acid, the test system comprising a conditioning system, a hybridization surface, and a processor, the conditioning system being configured to apply an adjustable conditioning parameter at the plurality of capture probes, the plurality of capture probes being attached to the hybridization surface and at least two of the plurality of capture probes having different abilities to hybridize to the target nucleic acid;
• establishing a first hybridization condition by adjusting one or more conditioning parameters in the conditioning system to a first value;
• determining, by the processor, a first degree of hybridization of the plurality of capture probes with the target nucleic acid under the first hybridization condition, the first degree of hybridization comprising at least one of a first association rate and a first dissociation rate of the target nucleic acid from each capture probe under the first hybridization condition;
• establishing a second hybridization condition by adjusting the one or more conditioning parameters in the conditioning system to a second value;
• determining, by the processor, a second degree of hybridization of the plurality of capture probes with the target nucleic acid under the second hybridization condition, the second degree of hybridization comprising at least one of a second association rate and a second dissociation rate of the target nucleic acid from each capture probe under the second hybridization condition;
• and
• classifying, by the processor, the target nucleic acid by generating a sequence of hybridization degrees with respect to each of the plurality of capture probes based on the first degree of hybridization and the second degree of hybridization and comparing the sequence of hybridization degrees to a model sequence hybridization degree of a known nucleic acid comprising the melting temperatures for each capture probe.

A method for classifying a target nucleic acid, the method comprising:

• exposing, in a test system, a plurality of capture probes to the target nucleic acid, the test system comprising a conditioning system, a hybridization surface, and a processor, the conditioning system being configured to apply an adjustable conditioning parameter at the plurality of capture probes, the plurality of capture probes being attached to the hybridization surface and at least two of the plurality of capture probes having different abilities to hybridize to the target nucleic acid;
• progressively adjusting the adjustable conditioning parameter in the conditioning system across a range of values;
• for each respective capture probe, recording a respective value of the adjustable conditioning parameter at which the respective capture probe reaches a predetermined degree of hybridization with the target nucleic acid, the plurality of capture probes thus providing a sequence of conditioning parameter values comprised of the respective value for each respective capture probe;
• and
• classifying, by the processor, the target nucleic acid as one of a plurality of test nucleic acids by comparing the sequence of conditioning parameter values to a plurality of test sequences, each test sequence comprising a sequence of conditioning values for a different test nucleic acid from the plurality of test nucleic acids.