Automated DNA sequencing technique

A method of detecting a tagged polynucleotide, which comprises:

• providing a plurality of polynucleotides, wherein each of said plurality of polynucleotide comprises an identical primer oligonucleotide tagged with a chromophore or fluorophore;
• resolving the plurality of tagged polynucleotides using an electrophoretic procedure capable of resolving tagged polynucleotides differing in length by a single nucleotide;
• and
• detecting each of the plurality of resolved tagged polynucleotides by means of the chromophore or fluorophore.

A method of determining the sequence of a polynucleotide by analyzing polynucleotide fragments generated by a polynucleotide sequencing technique, each of said polynucleotide fragments being tagged with a chromophore or fluorophore, comprising:

• introducing the tagged polynucleotide fragments into an electrophoretic medium;
• separating the tagged polynucleotide fragments in said electrophoretic medium using an electrophoretic procedure capable of resolving said polynucleotide fragments differing in length by a single nucleotide;
• detecting the separated tagged polynucleotide fragments by means of the chromophore or fluorophore;
• and
• determining the polynucleotide sequence from the polynucleotide fragments detected.

A method for determining the sequence of a polynucleotide which comprises:

• providing polynucleotide fragments tagged with chromophores or fluorophores, wherein the chromophores or fluorophores are distinguishable from others by their spectral characteristics;
• resolving the polynucleotide fragments by electrophoresis;
• and
• detecting the resolved fragments by means of the chromophores or fluorophores, and thereby determining the sequence based on the polynucleotide fragments detected.

A method of determining the sequence of a single-stranded polynucleotide comprising:

• obtaining a set of fragments of the complement of said single-stranded polynucleotide, wherein each fragment is tagged with a chromophore or fluorophore such that fragment differing by a single nucleotide are capable of being resolved;
• separating the tagged fragments according to size, using an electrophoretic procedure capable of resolving tagged fragments differing by a single nucleotide, to obtain separated tagged fragments;
• detecting each separated tagged fragment by means of its chromophore or fluorophore;
• and
• analyzing the sizes of the separated tagged fragments, thereby determining the sequence of the single-stranded polynucleotide.