Detectably and removably tagged nucleic acids

Abstract

Disclosed is a method of detecting specific nucleic acids using an oligonucleotide linked to a cleavable tag. The presence of a specific nucleic acid in a population of nucleic acids is determined by hybridizing an oligonucleotide containing the tag to a population of nucleic acids, separating hybridizing bound oligonucleotides, and then removing and identifying the tag. Also provided are compositions and kits comprising oligonucleotides linked to a cleavable tag.

What is claimed:  
     
         1 . An isolated nucleic acid composition comprising at least one oligonucleotide sequence covalently linked to a removable tag.  
     
     
         2 . The composition of  claim 1 , wherein the tag is detectable by mass spectroscopy.  
     
     
         3 . The composition of  claim 1 , wherein the composition comprises 2 of 100,000 distinct oligonucleotide sequences.  
     
     
         4 . The composition of  claim 1 , wherein the composition comprises 1000 to 100,000 distinct oligonucleotide sequences.  
     
     
         5 . The composition of  claim 1 , wherein at least a portion of the oligonucleotide sequence is complementary to a region of a transcribed gene.  
     
     
         6 . An isolated nucleic acid comprising a nucleic acid sequence complementary to the oligonucleotide sequence in the composition of  claim 1.