Automatic sequencer/genotyper having extended spectral response
First Claim
1. Apparatus for detecting charged molecules having differing mobilities and chemical properties and having fluorescent tags, each tag corresponding to a particular chemical property of the molecules, comprising:
- a plurality of electrophoresis lanes, each lane having a respective first and second end, and an electrophoresis medium between the first and second end of each lane, wherein an electrical potential, of appropriate polarity, is applied between the first and second end causes the charged molecules, applied at the first end, to travel toward the second end at a rate proportional to the molecule'"'"'s mobility such that the charged molecules are separated along the lane based on the molecules mobility;
a read zone that extends substantially along an image line that intersects the plurality of electrophoresis lanes near the second ends;
a light source that illuminates the read zone with excitation light to cause the charged molecules to fluoresce producing fluorescent light; and
a hyperspectral imager that spectrally images the fluorescent light onto a two-dimensional imaging plane, the first dimension being associated with a distance along the image line of the read zone and the second dimension being associated with the wavelength of the fluorescent light, the hyperspectral imager having continuous channels less than about 5 nanometers wide and including means for providing a spectral resolution of about 3-4 nanometers, contiguously spaced between about 450 nanometers and 900 nanometers.
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Abstract
An advanced imaging spectrograph system provides for slab-gel DNA sequencing and genotyping with high throughput sequencing. The system is based on the integration of improved electrophoresis structures with an imaging spectrophotometer that records the entire emission spectra along an imaging line across a sequencing gel (or capillary array). The system includes spectral shape matching to improve dye identification allowing the use of dyes having nearly any emission spectra and allowing greater than four dye multiplexing.
76 Citations
37 Claims
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1. Apparatus for detecting charged molecules having differing mobilities and chemical properties and having fluorescent tags, each tag corresponding to a particular chemical property of the molecules, comprising:
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a plurality of electrophoresis lanes, each lane having a respective first and second end, and an electrophoresis medium between the first and second end of each lane, wherein an electrical potential, of appropriate polarity, is applied between the first and second end causes the charged molecules, applied at the first end, to travel toward the second end at a rate proportional to the molecule'"'"'s mobility such that the charged molecules are separated along the lane based on the molecules mobility; a read zone that extends substantially along an image line that intersects the plurality of electrophoresis lanes near the second ends; a light source that illuminates the read zone with excitation light to cause the charged molecules to fluoresce producing fluorescent light; and a hyperspectral imager that spectrally images the fluorescent light onto a two-dimensional imaging plane, the first dimension being associated with a distance along the image line of the read zone and the second dimension being associated with the wavelength of the fluorescent light, the hyperspectral imager having continuous channels less than about 5 nanometers wide and including means for providing a spectral resolution of about 3-4 nanometers, contiguously spaced between about 450 nanometers and 900 nanometers. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29)
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30. A method for sequencing DNA, comprising:
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producing DNA fragments that are tagged with fluorescent dyes, the dyes indicating an end base associated with the respective DNA fragment; separating the DNA fragments according to mobility using electrophoresis of the fragments on a plurality of electrophoresis lanes, the separated DNA fragments forming fragment groups of slightly different mobility; exciting the fragment groups with excitation light to cause the fluorescent tags to fluoresce; forming a series of hyperspectral images of the separated DNA fragments, the hyperspectral images simultaneously covering all of the electrophoresis lanes and a broad spectral range; and identifying the fluorescent dye associated with DNA fragments of particular molecular weight by fitting the spectra emitted by a fragment group with reference spectra associated with the fluorescent dyes.
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31. Apparatus for detecting charged molecules having differing mobilities and chemical properties and having fluorescent tags, each tag corresponding to a particular chemical property of the molecules, comprising:
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a plurality of electrophoresis lanes, each lane being on a planar substrate and having a respective first and second end, and an electrophoresis medium between the first and second end of each lane, wherein an electrical potential, of appropriate polarity, is applied between the first and second end causes the charged molecules, applied at the first end, to travel toward the second end at a rate proportional to the molecule'"'"'s mobility such that the charged molecules are separated along the lane based on the molecule'"'"'s mobility; a read zone that extends substantially along an image line that intersects the plurality of electrophoresis lanes near the second ends; a laser source that illuminates the read zone with a laser beam along the image line to simultaneously illuminate the lanes, causing the charged molecules to fluoresce producing fluorescent light; a mirror that reflects the laser beam back through the read zone along the image line to increase the intensity and uniformity of the flourescent light; and an imaging spectrometer that spectrally images the fluorescent light onto a two-dimensional imaging plane, the first dimension being associated with a distance along the image line of the read zone and the second dimension being associated with the wavelength of the fluorescent light.
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32. Apparatus for detecting charged molecules having differing mobilities and chemical properties and having fluorescent tags, each tag corresponding to a particular chemical property of the molecules, comprising:
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a plurality of electrophoresis lanes, each lane having a respective first and second end, and an electrophoresis medium between the first and second end of each lane, wherein an electrical potential, of appropriate polarity, is applied between the first and second end causes the charged molecules, applied at the first end, to travel toward the second end at a rate proportional to the molecule'"'"'s mobility such that the charged molecules are separated along the lane based on the molecule'"'"'s mobility; a read zone that extends substantially along an image line that intersects the plurality of electrophoresis lanes near the second ends; a light source that illuminates the read zone with excitation light to cause the charged molecules to fluoresce producing fluorescent light; an imaging spectrometer that spectrally images the fluorescent light onto a two-dimensional imaging plane, the first dimension being associated with a distance along the image line of the read zone and the second dimension being associated with the wavelength of the fluorescent light; optical fibers for coupling the fluorescent light from the image line to an entrance slit on the imaging spectrometer; a cylindrical lens that focuses the fluorescent light from the imaging line onto ends of the optical fibers; and a mirror located behind the read zone such that fluorescent light travelling away from the fiber end is reflected back toward the optical fiber ends.
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33. Apparatus for detecting charged molecules having differing mobilities and chemical properties and having fluorescent tags, each tag corresponding to a particular chemical property of the molecules, comprising:
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a plurality of electrophoresis lanes, each lane having a respective first and second end, and an electrophoresis medium between the first and second end of each lane, and further comprising first and second electrodes situated to apply an electrical potential to the lanes at the first and second ends, respectively, wherein an electrical potential, of appropriate polarity, applied between the first and second electrodes causes the charged molecules, applied at the first end, to travel toward the second end at a rate proportional to the molecule'"'"'s mobility such that the charged molecules are separated along the lane based on the molecule'"'"'s mobility; a plurality of loading electrodes situated near the first electrode, each loading electrode being associated with a lane for loading the charged molecules into the lanes; a read zone that extends substantially along an image line that intersects the plurality of electrophoresis lanes near the second ends; a light source that illuminates the read zone with excitation light to cause the charged molecules to fluoresce producing fluorescent light; and an imaging spectrometer that spectrally images the fluorescent light onto a two-dimensional imaging plane, the first dimension being associated with a distance along the image line of the read zone and the second dimension being associated with the wavelength of the fluorescent light.
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34. A method for detecting and sequencing charged molecules having differing mobilities and chemical properties, the charged molecules being fragments of a larger molecule and the detection thereof permitting sequencing of the larger molecule, the method comprising:
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tagging the respective fragments with flourescent dyes, the dyes indicating an end base associated with the respective fragment; separating the fragments according to mobility using electrophoresis of the fragments on a plurality of electrophoresis lanes, the separated fragments forming fragment groups of slightly different mobility;
illuminating a read zone associated with each electrophoresis lane with an excitation light source as the fragments pass therethrough, the excitation light source causing the charged molecules to fluoresce producing fluorescent light; andhyperspectrally imaging the fluoresced light onto a series of two-dimensional planes, the hyperspectral images thus formed simultaneously covering all of the electrophoresis lanes and a broad spectral range. - View Dependent Claims (35, 36, 37)
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Specification