Non-mass determined base compositions for nucleic acid detection

Abstract

The present invention provides systems, methods, and compositions for nucleic acid detection based on non-mass determined base compositions. For example, in certain embodiments, base count data for a template nucleic acid is generated using an approach that does not measure molecular mass of the template nucleic acid (e.g., by sequencing the template nucleic acid) and a database comprising base count entries is queried to identify the target nucleic acid. In particular embodiments, sequencing is employed which is conducted in substantially real-time.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method of identifying a template nucleic acid, the method comprising:
 (a) determining at least a partial base count of at least a subsequence of at least one template nucleic acid and/or a complement thereof, using an approach that does not measure molecular mass of the template nucleic acid, to produce base count data; and   (b) querying a database comprising at least one base count entry corresponding to an identified nucleic acid to produce a match of the base count data with the base count entry, thereby identifying the template nucleic acid.