Patent Grant
7713698
Throughout this application, various publications are referenced in parentheses by author and year. Full citations for these references may be found at the end of the specification immediately preceding the claims. The disclosures of these publications in their entireties are hereby incorporated by reference into this application to more fully describe the state of the art to which this invention pertains.
The ability to sequence deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) accurately and rapidly is revolutionizing biology and medicine. The confluence of the massive Human Genome Project is driving an exponential growth in the development of high throughput genetic analysis technologies. This rapid technological development involving chemistry, engineering, biology, and computer science makes it possible to move from studying single genes at a time to analyzing and comparing entire genomes.
With the completion of the first entire human genome sequence map, many areas in the genome that are highly polymorphic in both exons and introns will be known. The pharmacogenomics challenge is to comprehensively identify the genes and functional polymorphisms associated with the variability in drug response (Roses, 2000). Resequencing of polymorphic areas in the genome that are linked to disease development will contribute greatly to the understanding of diseases, such as cancer, and therapeutic development. Thus, high-throughput accurate methods for resequencing the highly variable intron/exon regions of the genome are needed in order to explore the full potential of the complete human genome sequence map. The current state-of-the-art technology for high throughput DNA sequencing, such as used for the Human Genome Project (Pennisi 2000), is capillary array DNA sequencers using laser induced fluorescence detection (Smith et al., 1986; Ju et al. 1995, 1996; Kheterpal et al. 1996; Salas-Solano et al. 1998). Improvements in the polymerase that lead to uniform termination efficiency and the introduction of thermostable polymerases have also significantly improved the quality of sequencing data (Tabor and Richardson, 1987, 1995). Although capillary array DNA sequencing technology to some extent addresses the throughput and read length requirements of large scale DNA sequencing projects, the throughput and accuracy required for mutation studies needs to be improved for a wide variety of applications ranging from disease gene discovery to forensic identification. For example, electrophoresis based DNA sequencing methods have difficulty detecting heterozygotes unambiguously and are not 100% accurate in regions rich in nucleotides comprising guanine or cytosine due to compressions (Bowling et al. 1991; Yamakawa et al. 1997). In addition, the first few bases after the priming site are often masked by the high fluorescence signal from excess dye-labeled primers or dye-labeled terminators, and are therefore difficult to identify. Therefore, the requirement of electrophoresis for DNA sequencing is still the bottleneck for high-throughput DNA sequencing and mutation detection projects.
The concept of sequencing DNA by synthesis without using electrophoresis was first revealed in 1988 (Hyman, 1988) and involves detecting the identity of each nucleotide as it is incorporated into the growing strand of DNA in a polymerase reaction. Such a scheme coupled with the chip format and laser-induced fluorescent detection has the potential to markedly increase the throughput of DNA sequencing projects. Consequently, several groups have investigated such a system with an aim to construct an ultra high-throughput DNA sequencing procedure (Cheeseman 1994, Metzker et al. 1994). Thus far, no complete success of using such a system to unambiguously sequence DNA has been reported. The pyrosequencing approach that employs four natural nucleotides (comprising a base of adenine (A), cytosine (C), guanine (G), or thymine (T)) and several other enzymes for sequencing DNA by synthesis is now widely used for mutation detection (Ronaghi 1998). In this approach, the detection is based on the pyrophosphate (PPi) released during the DNA polymerase reaction, the quantitative conversion of pyrophosphate to adenosine triphosphate (ATP) by sulfurylase, and the subsequent production of visible light by firefly luciferase. This procedure can only sequence up to 30 base pairs (bps) of nucleotide sequences, and each of the 4 nucleotides needs to be added separately and detected separately. Long stretches of the same bases cannot be identified unambiguously with the pyrosequencing method.
More recent work in the literature exploring DNA sequencing by a synthesis method is mostly focused on designing and synthesizing a photocleavable chemical moiety that is linked to a fluorescent dye to cap the 3′-OH group of deoxynucleoside triphosphates (dNTPs) (Welch et al. 1999). Limited success for the incorporation of the 3′-modified nucleotide by DNA polymerase is reported. The reason is that the 3′-position on the deoxyribose is very close to the amino acid residues in the active site of the polymerase, and the polymerase is therefore sensitive to modification in this area of the deoxyribose ring. On the other hand, it is known that modified DNA polymerases (Thermo Sequenase and Taq FS polymerase) are able to recognize nucleotides with extensive modifications with bulky groups such as energy transfer dyes at the 5-position of the pyrimidines (T and C) and at the 7-position of purines (G and A) (Rosenblum et al. 1997, Zhu et al. 1994). The ternary complexes of rat DNA polymerase, a DNA template-primer, and dideoxycytidine triphosphate (ddCTP) have been determined (Pelletier et al. 1994) which supports this fact. As shown in
The approach disclosed in the present application is to make nucleotide analogues by linking a unique label such as a fluorescent dye or a mass tag through a cleavable linker to the nucleotide base or an analogue of the nucleotide base, such as to the 5-position of the pyrimidines (T and C) and to the 7-position of the purines (G and A), to use a small cleavable chemical moiety to cap the 3′-OH group of the deoxyribose to make it nonreactive, and to incorporate the nucleotide analogues into the growing DNA strand as terminators. Detection of the unique label will yield the sequence identity of the nucleotide. Upon removing the label and the 3′-OH capping group, the polymerase reaction will proceed to incorporate the next nucleotide analogue and detect the next base.
It is also desirable to use a photocleavable group to cap the 3′-OH group. However, a photocleavable group is generally bulky and thus the DNA polymerase will have difficulty to incorporate the nucleotide analogues containing a photocleavable moiety capping the 3′-OH group. If small chemical moieties that can be easily cleaved chemically with high yield can be used to cap the 3′-OH group, such nucleotide analogues should also be recognized as substrates for DNA polymerase. It has been reported that 3′-O-methoxy-deoxynucleotides are good substrates for several polymerases (Axelrod et al. 1978). 3′-O-allyl-dATP was also shown to be incorporated by Ventr(exo-) DNA polymerase in the growing strand of DNA (Metzker et al. 1994). However, the procedure to chemically cleave the methoxy group is stringent and requires anhydrous conditions. Thus, it is not practical to use a methoxy group to cap the 3′-OH group for sequencing DNA by synthesis. An ester group was also explored to cap the 3′-OH group of the nucleotide, but it was shown to be cleaved by the nucleophiles in the active site in DNA polymerase (Canard et al. 1995). Chemical groups with electrophiles such as ketone groups are not suitable for protecting the 3′-OH of the nucleotide in enzymatic reactions due to the existence of strong nucleophiles in the polymerase. It is known that MOM (—CH2OCH3) and allyl (—CH2CH═CH2) groups can be used to cap an —OH group, and can be cleaved chemically with high yield (Ireland et al. 1986; Kamal et al. 1999). The approach disclosed in the present application is to incorporate nucleotide analogues, which are labeled with cleavable, unique labels such as fluorescent dyes or mass tags and where the 3′-OH is capped with a cleavable chemical moiety such as either a MOM group (—CH2OCH3) or an allyl group (—CH2CH═CH2), into the growing strand DNA as terminators. The optimized nucleotide set (3′-RO-A-LABEL1, 3′-RO-C-LABEL2, 3′-RO-G-LABEL3, 3′-RO-T-LABEL4, where R denotes the chemical group used to cap the 3′-OH) can then be used for DNA sequencing by the synthesis approach.
There are many advantages of using mass spectrometry (MS) to detect small and stable molecules. For example, the mass resolution can be as good as one dalton. Thus, compared to gel electrophoresis sequencing systems and the laser induced fluorescence detection approach which have overlapping fluorescence emission spectra, leading to heterozygote detection difficulty, the MS approach disclosed in this application produces very high resolution of sequencing data by detecting the cleaved small mass tags instead of the long DNA fragment. This method also produces extremely fast separation in the time scale of microseconds. The high resolution allows accurate digital mutation and heterozygote detection. Another advantage of sequencing with mass spectrometry by detecting the small mass tags is that the compressions associated with gel based systems are completely eliminated.
In order to maintain a continuous hybridized primer extension product with the template DNA, a primer that contains a stable loop to form an entity capable of self-priming in a polymerase reaction can be ligated to the 3′ end of each single stranded DNA template that is immobilized on a solid surface such as a chip. This approach will solve the problem of washing off the growing extension products in each cycle.
Saxon and Bertozzi (2000) developed an elegant and highly specific coupling chemistry linking a specific group that contains a phosphine moiety to an azido group on the surface of a biological cell. In the present application, this coupling chemistry is adopted to create a solid surface which is coated with a covalently linked phosphine moiety, and to generate polymerase chain reaction (PCR) products that contain an azido group at the 5′ end for specific coupling of the DNA template with the solid surface. One example of a solid surface is glass channels which have an inner wall with an uneven or porous surface to increase the surface area. Another example is a chip.
The present application discloses a novel and advantageous system for DNA sequencing by the synthesis approach which employs a stable DNA template, which is able to self prime for the polymerase reaction, covalently linked to a solid surface such as a chip, and 4 unique nucleotides analogues (3′-RO-A-LABEL1, 3′-RO-C-LABEL2, 3′-RO-G-LABEL3, 3′-RO-T-LABEL4). The success of this novel system will allow the development of an ultra high-throughput and high fidelity DNA sequencing system for polymorphism, pharmacogenetics applications and for whole genome sequencing. This fast and accurate DNA resequencing system is needed in such fields as detection of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) (Chee et al. 1996), serial analysis of gene expression (SAGE) (Velculescu et al. 1995), identification in forensics, and genetic disease association studies.
This invention is directed to a method for sequencing a nucleic acid by detecting the identity of a nucleotide analogue after the nucleotide analogue is incorporated into a growing strand of DNA in a polymerase reaction, which comprises the following steps:
The invention provides a method of attaching a nucleic acid to a solid surface which comprises:
The invention provides a nucleotide analogue which comprises:
The invention provides a parallel mass spectrometry system, which comprises a plurality of atmospheric pressure chemical ionization mass spectrometers for parallel analysis of a plurality of samples comprising mass tags.
The following definitions are presented as an aid in understanding this invention.
As used herein, to cap an —OH group means to replace the “H” in the —OH group with a chemical group. As disclosed herein, the —OH group of the nucleotide analogue is capped with a cleavable chemical group. To uncap an —OH group means to cleave the chemical group from a capped —OH group and to replace the chemical group with “H”, i.e., to replace the “R” in —OR with “H” wherein “R” is the chemical group used to cap the —OH group.
The nucleotide bases are abbreviated as follows: adenine (A), cytosine (C), guanine (G), thymine (T), and uracil (U).
An analogue of a nucleotide base refers to a structural and functional derivative of the base of a nucleotide which can be recognized by polymerase as a substrate. That is, for example, an analogue of adenine (A) should form hydrogen bonds with thymine (T), a C analogue should form hydrogen bonds with G, a G analogue should form hydrogen bonds with C, and a T analogue should form hydrogen bonds with A, in a double helix format. Examples of analogues of nucleotide bases include, but are not limited to, 7-deaza-adenine and 7-deaza-guanine, wherein the nitrogen atom at the 7-position of adenine or guanine is substituted with a carbon atom.
A nucleotide analogue refers to a chemical compound that is structurally and functionally similar to the nucleotide, i.e. the nucleotide analogue can be recognized by polymerase as a substrate. That is, for example, a nucleotide analogue comprising adenine or an analogue of adenine should form hydrogen bonds with thymine, a nucleotide analogue comprising C or an analogue of C should form hydrogen bonds with G, a nucleotide analogue comprising G or an analogue of G should form hydrogen bonds with C, and a nucleotide analogue comprising T or an analogue of T should form hydrogen bonds with A, in a double helix format. Examples of nucleotide analogues disclosed herein include analogues which comprise an analogue of the nucleotide base such as 7-deaza-adenine or 7-deaza-guanine, wherein the nitrogen atom at the 7-position of adenine or guanine is substituted with a carbon atom. Further examples include analogues in which a label is attached through a cleavable linker to the 5-position of cytosine or thymine or to the 7-position of deaza-adenine or deaza-guanine. Other examples include analogues in which a small chemical moiety such as —CH2OCH3 or —CH2CH═CH2 is used to cap the —OH group at the 3′-position of deoxyribose. Analogues of dideoxynucleotides can similarly be prepared.
As used herein, a porous surface is a surface which contains pores or is otherwise uneven, such that the surface area of the porous surface is increased relative to the surface area when the surface is smooth.
The present invention is directed to a method for sequencing a nucleic acid by detecting the identity of a nucleotide analogue after the nucleotide analogue is incorporated into a growing strand of DNA in a polymerase reaction, which comprises the following steps:
In one embodiment of any of the nucleotide analogues described herein, the nucleotide base is adenine. In one embodiment, the nucleotide base is guanine. In one embodiment, the nucleotide base is cytosine. In one embodiment, the nucleotide base is thymine. In one embodiment, the nucleotide base is uracil. In one embodiment, the nucleotide base is an analogue of adenine. In one embodiment, the nucleotide base is an analogue of guanine. In one embodiment, the nucleotide base is an analogue of cytosine. In one embodiment, the nucleotide base is an analogue of thymine. In one embodiment, the nucleotide base is an analogue of uracil.
In different embodiments of any of the inventions described herein, the solid surface is glass, silicon, or gold. In different embodiments, the solid surface is a magnetic bead, a chip, a channel in a chip, or a porous channel in a chip. In one embodiment, the solid surface is glass. In one embodiment, the solid surface is silicon. In one embodiment, the solid surface is gold. In one embodiments, the solid surface is a magnetic bead. In one embodiment, the solid surface is a chip. In one embodiment, the solid surface is a channel in a chip. In one embodiment, the solid surface is a porous channel in a chip. Other materials can also be used as long as the material does not interfere with the steps of the method.
In one embodiment, the step of attaching the nucleic acid to the solid surface comprises:
In one embodiment, the step of coating the solid surface with the phosphine moiety comprises:
In one embodiment, the nucleic acid that is attached to the solid surface is a single-stranded deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA). In another embodiment, the nucleic acid that is attached to the solid surface in step (i) is a double-stranded DNA, wherein only one strand is directly attached to the solid surface, and wherein the strand that is not directly attached to the solid surface is removed by denaturing before proceeding to step (ii). In one embodiment, the nucleic acid that is attached to the solid surface is a ribonucleic acid (RNA), and the polymerase in step (iii) is reverse transcriptase.
In one embodiment, the primer is attached to a 3′ end of the nucleic acid in step (ii), and the attached primer comprises a stable loop and an —OH group at a 3′-position of a deoxyribose capable of self-priming in the polymerase reaction. In one embodiment, the step of attaching the primer to the nucleic acid comprises hybridizing the primer to the nucleic acid or ligating the primer to the nucleic acid. In one embodiment, the primer is attached to the nucleic acid through a ligation reaction which links the 3′ end of the nucleic acid with the 5′ end of the primer.
In one embodiment, one or more of four different nucleotide analogs is added in step (iii), wherein each different nucleotide analogue comprises a different base selected from the group consisting of thymine or uracil or an analogue of thymine or uracil, adenine or an analogue of adenine, cytosine or an analogue of cytosine, and guanine or an analogue of guanine, and wherein each of the four different nucleotide analogues comprises a unique label.
In one embodiment, the cleavable chemical group that caps the —OH group at the 3′-position of the deoxyribose in the nucleotide analogue is —CH2OCH3 or —CH2CH═CH2. Any chemical group could be used as long as the group 1) is stable during the polymerase reaction, 2) does not interfere with the recognition of the nucleotide analogue by polymerase as a substrate, and 3) is cleavable.
In one embodiment, the unique label that is attached to the nucleotide analogue is a fluorescent moiety or a fluorescent semiconductor crystal. In further embodiments, the fluorescent moiety is selected from the group consisting of 5-carboxyfluorescein, 6-carboxyrhodamine-6G, N,N,N′,N′-tetramethyl-6-carboxyrhodamine, and 6-carboxy-X-rhodamine. In one embodiment, the fluorescent moiety is 5-carboxyfluorescein. In one embodiment, the fluorescent moiety is 6-carboxyrhodamine-6G, N,N,N′,N′-tetramethyl-6-carboxyrhodamine. In one embodiment, the fluorescent moiety is 6-carboxy-X-rhodamine.
In one embodiment, the unique label that is attached to the nucleotide analogue is a fluorescence energy transfer tag which comprises an energy transfer donor and an energy transfer acceptor. In further embodiments, the energy transfer donor is 5-carboxyfluorescein or cyanine, and wherein the energy transfer acceptor is selected from the group consisting of dichlorocarboxyfluorescein, dichloro-6-carboxyrhodamine-6G, dichloro-N,N,N′,N′-tetramethyl-6-carboxyrhodamine, and dichloro-6-carboxy-X-rhodamine. In one embodiment, the energy transfer acceptor is dichlorocarboxyfluorescein. In one embodiment, the energy transfer acceptor is dichloro-6-carboxyrhodamine-6G. In one embodiment, the energy transfer acceptor is dichloro-N,N,N′,N′-tetramethyl-6-carboxyrhodamine. In one embodiment, the energy transfer acceptor is dichloro-6-carboxy-X-rhodamine.
In one embodiment, the unique label that is attached to the nucleotide analogue is a mass tag that can be detected and differentiated by a mass spectrometer. In further embodiments, the mass tag is selected from the group consisting of a 2-nitro-α-methyl-benzyl group, a 2-nitro-α-methyl-3-fluorobenzyl group, a 2-nitro-α-methyl-3,4-difluorobenzyl group, and a 2-nitro-α-methyl-3,4-dimethoxybenzyl group. In one embodiment, the mass tag is a 2-nitro-α-methyl-benzyl group. In one embodiment, the mass tag is a 2-nitro-α-methyl-3-fluorobenzyl group. In one embodiment, the mass tag is a 2-nitro-α-methyl-3,4-difluorobenzyl group. In one embodiment, the mass tag is a 2-nitro-α-methyl-3,4-dimethoxybenzyl group. In one embodiment, the mass tag is detected using a parallel mass spectrometry system which comprises a plurality of atmospheric pressure chemical ionization mass spectrometers for parallel analysis of a plurality of samples comprising mass tags.
In one embodiment, the unique label is attached through a cleavable linker to a 5-position of cytosine or thymine or to a 7-position of deaza-adenine or deaza-guanine. The unique label could also be attached through a cleavable linker to another position in the nucleotide analogue as long as the attachment of the label is stable during the polymerase reaction and the nucleotide analog can be recognized by polymerase as a substrate. For example, the cleavable label could be attached to the deoxyribose.
In one embodiment, the linker between the unique label and the nucleotide analogue is cleaved by a means selected from the group consisting of one or more of a physical means, a chemical means, a physical chemical means, heat, and light. In one embodiment, the linker is cleaved by a physical means. In one embodiment, the linker is cleaved by a chemical means. In one embodiment, the linker is cleaved by a physical chemical means. In one embodiment, the linker is cleaved by heat. In one embodiment, the linker is cleaved by light. In one embodiment, the linker is cleaved by ultraviolet light. In a further embodiment, the cleavable linker is a photocleavable linker which comprises a 2-nitrobenzyl moiety.
In one embodiment, the cleavable chemical group used to cap the —OH group at the 3′-position of the deoxyribose is cleaved by a means selected from the group consisting of one or more of a physical means, a chemical means, a physical chemical means, heat, and light. In one embodiment, the linker is cleaved by a physical chemical means. In one embodiment, the linker is cleaved by heat. In one embodiment, the linker is cleaved by light. In one embodiment, the linker is cleaved by ultraviolet light.
In one embodiment, the chemical compounds added in step (vi) to permanently cap any unreacted —OH group on the primer attached to the nucleic acid or on the primer extension strand are a polymerase and one or more different dideoxynucleotides or analogues of dideoxynucleotides. In further embodiments, the different dideoxynucleotides are selected from the group consisting of 2′,3′-dideoxyadenosine 5′-triphosphate, 2′,3′-dideoxyguanosine 5′-triphosphate, 2′,3′-dideoxycytidine 5′-triphosphate, 2′,3′-dideoxythymidine 5′-triphosphate, 2′,3′-dideoxyuridine 5′-triphosphase, and their analogues. In one embodiment, the dideoxynucleotide is 2′,3′-dideoxyadenosine 5′-triphosphate. In one embodiment, the dideoxynucleotide is 2′,3′-dideoxyguanosine 5′-triphosphate. In one embodiment, the dideoxynucleotide is 2′,3′-dideoxycytidine 5′-triphosphate. In one embodiment, the dideoxynucleotide is 2′,3′-dideoxythymidine 50′-triphosphate. In one embodiment, the dideoxynucleotide is 2′,3′-dideoxyuridine 5′-triphosphase. In one embodiment, the dideoxynucleotide is an analogue of 2′,3′-dideoxyadenosine 5′-triphosphate. In one embodiment, the dideoxynucleotide is an analogue of 2′,3′-dideoxyguanosine 5′-triphosphate. In one embodiment, the dideoxynucleotide is an analogue of 2′,3′-dideoxycytidine 5′-triphosphate. In one embodiment, the dideoxynucleotide is an analogue of 2′,3′-dideoxythymidine 5′-triphosphate. In one embodiment, the dideoxynucleotide is an analogue of 2′,3′-dideoxyuridine 5′-triphosphase.
In one embodiment, a polymerase and one or more of four different dideoxynucleotides are added in step (vi), wherein each different dideoxynucleotide is selected from the group consisting of 2′,3′-dideoxyadenosine 5′-triphosphate or an analogue of 2′,3′-dideoxyadenosine 5′-triphosphate; 2′,3′-dideoxyguanosine 5′-triphosphate or an analogue of 2′,3′-dideoxyguanosine 5′-triphosphate; 2′,3′-dideoxycytidine 5′-triphosphate or an analogue of 2′,3′-dideoxycytidine 5′-triphosphate; and 2′,3′-dideoxythymidine 5′-triphosphate or 2′,3′-dideoxyuridine 5′-triphosphase or an analogue of 2′,3′-dideoxythymidine 5′-triphosphate or an analogue of 2′,3′-dideoxyuridine 5′-triphosphase. In one embodiment, the dideoxynucleotide is 2′,3′-dideoxyadenosine 5′-triphosphate. In one embodiment, the dideoxynucleotide is an analogue of 2′,3′-dideoxyadenosine 5′-triphosphate. In one embodiment, the dideoxynucleotide is 2′,3′-dideoxyguanosine 5′-triphosphate. In one embodiment, the dideoxynucleotide is an analogue of 2′,3′-dideoxyguanosine 5′-triphosphate. In one embodiment, the dideoxynucleotide is 2′,3′-dideoxycytidine 5′-triphosphate. In one embodiment, the dideoxynucleotide is an analogue of 2′,3′-dideoxycytidine 5′-triphosphate. In one embodiment, the dideoxynucleotide is 2′,3′-dideoxythymidine 5′-triphosphate. In one embodiment, the dideoxynucleotide is 2′,3′-dideoxyuridine 5′-triphosphase. In one embodiment, the dideoxynucleotide is an analogue of 2′,3′-dideoxythymidine 5′-triphosphate. In one embodiment, the dideoxynucleotide is an analogue of 2′,3′-dideoxyuridine 5′-triphosphase.
Another type of chemical compound that reacts specifically with the —OH group could also be used to permanently cap any unreacted —OH group on the primer attached to the nucleic acid or on an extension strand formed by adding one or more nucleotides or nucleotide analogues to the primer.
The invention provides a method for simultaneously sequencing a plurality of different nucleic acids, which comprises simultaneously applying any of the methods disclosed herein for sequencing a nucleic acid to the plurality of different nucleic acids. In different embodiments, the method can be used to sequence from one to over 100,000 different nucleic acids simultaneously.
The invention provides for the use of any of the methods disclosed herein for detection of single nucleotide polymorphisms, genetic mutation analysis, serial analysis of gene expression, gene expression analysis, identification in forensics, genetic disease association studies, DNA sequencing, genomic sequencing, translational analysis, or transcriptional analysis.
The invention provides a method of attaching a nucleic acid to a solid surface which comprises:
In one embodiment, the step of coating the solid surface with the phosphine moiety comprises:
In different embodiments, the solid surface is glass, silicon, or gold. In different embodiments, the solid surface is a magnetic bead, a chip, a channel in an chip, or a porous channel in a chip.
In different embodiments, the nucleic acid that is attached to the solid surface is a single-stranded or double-stranded DNA or a RNA. In one embodiment, the nucleic acid is a double-stranded DNA and only one strand is attached to the solid surface. In a further embodiment, the strand of the double-stranded DNA that is not attached to the solid surface is removed by denaturing.
The invention provides for the use of any of the methods disclosed herein for attaching a nucleic acid to a surface for gene expression analysis, microarray based gene expression analysis, or mutation detection, translational analysis, transcriptional analysis, or for other genetic applications.
The invention provides a nucleotide analogue which comprises:
In one embodiment of the nucleotide analogue, the cleavable chemical group that caps the —OH group at the 3′-position of the deoxyribose is —CH2OCH3 or —CH2CH═CH2.
In one embodiment, the unique label is a fluorescent moiety or a fluorescent semiconductor crystal. In further embodiments, the fluorescent moiety is selected from the group consisting of 5-carboxyfluorescein, 6-carboxyrhodamine-6G, N,N,N′,N′-tetramethyl-6-carboxyrhodamine, and 6-carboxy-X-rhodamine.
In one embodiment, the unique label is a fluorescence energy transfer tag which comprises an energy transfer donor and an energy transfer acceptor. In further embodiments, the energy transfer donor is 5-carboxyfluorescein or cyanine, and wherein the energy transfer acceptor is selected from the group consisting of dichlorocarboxyfluorescein, dichloro-6-carboxyrhodamine-6G, dichloro-N,N,N′,N′-tetramethyl-6-carboxyrhodamine, and dichloro-6-carboxy-X-rhodamine.
In one embodiment, the unique label is a mass tag that can be detected and differentiated by a mass spectrometer. In further embodiments, the mass tag is selected from the group consisting of a 2-nitro-α-methyl-benzyl group, a 2-nitro-α-methyl-3-fluorobenzyl group, a 2-nitro-α-methyl-3,4-difluorobenzyl group, and a 2-nitro-α-methyl-3,4-dimethoxybenzyl group.
In one embodiment, the unique label is attached through a cleavable linker to a 5-position of cytosine or thymine or to a 7-position of deaza-adenine or deaza-guanine. The unique label could also be attached through a cleavable linker to another position in the nucleotide analogue as long as the attachment of the label is stable during the polymerase reaction and the nucleotide analog can be recognized by polymerase as a substrate. For example, the cleavable label could be attached to the deoxyribose.
In one embodiment, the linker between the unique label and the nucleotide analogue is cleavable by a means selected from the group consisting of one or more of a physical means, a chemical means, a physical chemical means, heat, and light. In a further embodiment, the cleavable linker is a photocleavable linker which comprises a 2-nitrobenzyl moiety.
In one embodiment, the cleavable chemical group used to cap the —OH group at the 3′-position of the deoxyribose is cleavable by a means selected from the group consisting of one or more of a physical means, a chemical means, a physical chemical means, heat, and light.
In different embodiments, the nucleotide analogue is selected from the group consisting of:
In different embodiments, the nucleotide analogue is selected from the group consisting of:
In different embodiments, the nucleotide analogue is selected from the group consisting of:
In different embodiments, the nucleotide analogue is selected from the group consisting of:
The invention provides for the use any of the nucleotide analogues disclosed herein for detection of single nucleotide polymorphisms, genetic mutation analysis, serial analysis of gene expression, gene expression analysis, identification in forensics, genetic disease association studies, DNA sequencing, genomic sequencing, translational analysis, or transcriptional analysis.
The invention provides a parallel mass spectrometry system, which comprises a plurality of atmospheric pressure chemical ionization mass spectrometers for parallel analysis of a plurality of samples comprising mass tags. In one embodiment, the mass spectrometers are quadrupole mass spectrometers. In one embodiment, the mass spectrometers are time-of-flight mass spectrometers. In one embodiment, the mass spectrometers are contained in one device. In one embodiment, the system further comprises two turbo-pumps, wherein one pump is used to generate a vacuum and a second pump is used to remove undesired elements. In one embodiment, the system comprises at least three mass spectrometers. In one embodiment, the mass tags have molecular weights between 150 daltons and 250 daltons. The invention provides for the use of the system for DNA sequencing analysis, detection of single nucleotide polymorphisms, genetic mutation analysis, serial analysis of gene expression, gene expression analysis, identification in forensics, genetic disease association studies, DNA sequencing, genomic sequencing, translational analysis, or transcriptional analysis.
This invention will be better understood from the Experimental Details which follow. However, one skilled in the art will readily appreciate that the specific methods and results discussed are merely illustrative of the invention as described more fully in the claims which follow thereafter.
Sequencing DNA by synthesis involves the detection of the identity of each nucleotide as it is incorporated into the growing strand of DNA in the polymerase reaction. The fundamental requirements for such a system to work are: (1) the availability of 4 nucleotide analogues (aA, aC, aG, aT) each labeled with a unique label and containing a chemical moiety capping the 3′-OH group; (2) the 4 nucleotide analogues (aA, aC, aG, aT) need to be efficiently and faithfully incorporated by DNA polymerase as terminators in the polymerase reaction; (3) the tag and the group capping the 3′-OH need to be removed with high yield to allow the incorporation and detection of the next nucleotide; and (4) the growing strand of DNA should survive the washing, detection and cleavage processes to remain annealed to the DNA template.
The sequencing by synthesis approach disclosed herein is illustrated in
As shown in
It is a routine procedure now to immobilize high density (>10,000 spots per chip) single stranded DNA on a 4 cm×1 cm glass chip (Schena et al. 1995). Thus, in the DNA sequencing system disclosed herein, more than 10,000 bases can be identified after each cycle and after 100 cycles, a million base pairs will be generated from one sequencing chip.
Possible DNA polymerases include Thermo Sequenase, Taq FS DNA polymerase, T7 DNA polymerase, and Vent (exo-) DNA polymerase. The fluorescence emission from each specific dye can be detected using a fluorimeter that is equipped with an accessory to detect fluorescence from a glass slide. For large scale evaluation, a multi-color scanning system capable of detecting multiple different fluorescent dyes (500 nm-700 nm) (GSI Lumonics ScanArray 5000 Standard Biochip Scanning System) on a glass slide can be used.
An example of the sequencing by synthesis approach using mass tags is shown in
Since the development of new ionization techniques such as matrix assisted laser desorption ionization (MALDI) and electrospray ionization (ESI), mass spectrometry has become an indispensable tool in many areas of biomedical research. Though these ionization methods are suitable for the analysis of bioorganic molecules, such as peptides and proteins, improvements in both detection and sample preparation are required for implementation of mass spectrometry for DNA sequencing applications. Since the approach disclosed herein uses small and stable mass tags, there is no need to detect large DNA sequencing fragments directly and it is not necessary to use MALDI or ESI methods for detection. Atmospheric pressure chemical ionization (APCI) is an ionization method that uses a gas-phase ion-molecular reaction at atmospheric pressure (Dizidic et al. 1975). In this method, samples are introduced by either chromatography or flow injection into a pneumatic nebulizer where they are converted into small droplets by a high-speed beam of nitrogen gas. When the heated gas and solution arrive at the reaction area, the excess amount of solvent is ionized by corona discharge. This ionized mobile phase acts as the ionizing agent toward the samples and yields pseudo molecular (M+H)+ and (M−H)− ions. Due to the corona discharge ionization method, high ionization efficiency is attainable, maintaining stable ionization conditions with detection sensitivity lower than femtomole region for small and stable organic compounds. However, due to the limited detection of large molecules, ESI and MALDI have replaced APCI for analysis of peptides and nucleic acids. Since in the approach disclosed the mass tags to be detected are relatively small and very stable organic molecules, the ability to detect large biological molecules gained by using ESI and MALDI is not necessary. APCI has several advantages over ESI and MALDI because it does not require any tedious sample preparation such as desalting or mixing with matrix to prepare crystals on a target plate. In ESI, the sample nature and sample preparation conditions (i.e. the existence of buffer or inorganic salts) suppress the ionization efficiency. MALDI requires the addition of matrix prior to sample introduction into the mass spectrometer and its speed is often limited by the need to search for an ideal irradiation spot to obtain interpretable mass spectra. These limitations are overcome by APCI because the mass tag solution can be injected directly with no additional sample purification or preparation into the mass spectrometer. Since the mass tagged samples are volatile and have small mass numbers, these compounds are easily detectable by APCI ionization with high sensitivity. This system can be scaled up into a high throughput operation.
Each component of the sequencing by synthesis system is described in more detail below.
The single stranded DNA template immobilized on a surface is prepared according to the scheme shown in
The NHS ester of triarylphosphine (1) is prepared according to the scheme shown in
The azido labeled DNA (2) is synthesized according to the scheme shown in
The self-primed DNA template moiety on the sequencing chip is constructed as shown in
A scheme has been developed for evaluating the photocleavage efficiency using different dyes and testing the sequencing by synthesis approach. Four nucleotide analogues 3′-HO-A-Dye1, 3′-HO-C-Dye2, 3′-HO-G-Dye3, 3′-HO-T-Dye4 each labeled with a unique fluorescent dye through a photocleavable linker are synthesized and used in the sequencing by synthesis approach. Examples of dyes include, but are not limited to: Dye1=FAM, 5-carboxyfluorescein; Dye2=R6G, 6-carboxyrhodamine-6G; Dye3=TAM, N,N,N′,N′-tetramethyl-6-carboxyrhodamine; and Dye4=ROX, 6-carboxy-X-rhodamine. The structures of the 4 nucleotide analogues are shown in
The photocleavable 2-nitrobenzyl moiety has been used to link biotin to DNA and protein for efficient removal by UV light (˜350 nm) (Olejnik et al. 1995, 1999). In the approach disclosed herein the 2-nitrobenzyl group is used to bridge the fluorescent dye and nucleotide together to form the dye labeled nucleotides as shown in
As a representative example, the synthesis of 3′-HO-G-Dye3 (Dye3=Tam) is shown in
The expected photolysis products of DNA containing a photocleavable fluorescent dye at the 3′ end of the DNA are shown in
A photolysis setup can be used which allows a high throughput of monochromatic light from a 1000 watt high pressure xenon lamp (LX1000UV, ILC) in conjunction with a monochromator (Kratos, Schoeffel Instruments). This instrument allows the evaluation of the photocleavage of model systems as a function of the intensity and excitation wavelength of the absorbed light. Standard analytical analysis is used to determine the extent of photocleavage. From this information, the efficiency of the photocleavage as a function of wavelength can be determined. The wavelength at which photocleavage occurs most efficiently can be selected as for use in the sequencing system.
Photocleavage results have been obtained using a model system as shown in
Once the steps and conditions in Section 3 are optimized, the synthesis of nucleotide analogues 3′-RO-A-Dye1, 3′-RO-C-Dye2, 3′-RO-G-Dye3, 3′-RO-T-Dye4 can be pursued for further study of the system. Here the 3′-OH is capped in all four nucleotide analogues, which then can be mixed together with DNA polymerase and used to evaluate the sequencing system using the scheme in
The spectral property of the fluorescent tags can be optimized by using energy transfer (ET) coupled dyes. The ET primer and ET dideoxynucleotides have been shown to be a superior set of reagents for 4-color DNA sequencing that allows the use of one laser to excite multiple sets of fluorescent tags (Ju et al. 1995). It has been shown that DNA polymerase (Thermo Sequenase and Taq FS) can efficiently incorporate the ET dye labeled dideoxynucleotides (Rosenblum et al. 1997). These ET dye-labeled sequencing reagents are now widely used in large scale DNA sequencing projects, such as the human genome project. A library of ET dye labeled nucleotide analogues can be synthesized as shown in
The precursors of four examples of mass tags are shown in
Different combinations of mass tags and nucleotides can be used, as indicated by the general scheme: 3′-HO-A-Tag1, 3′-HO-C-Tag2, 3′-HO-G-Tag3, 3′-HO-T-Tag4 where Tag1, Tag2, Tag3, and Tag4 are four different unique cleavable mass tags. Four specific examples of nucleotide analogues are shown in
As a representative example, the synthesis of the NHS ester of one mass tag (Tag-3) is shown in
The sequencing by synthesis approach can be tested using mass tags using a scheme similar to that show for dyes in
The synthesis of nucleotide analogues 3′-RO-A-Tag1, 3′-RO-C-Tag2, 3′-RO-G-Tag3, 3′-RO-T-Tag4 can be pursued for further study of the system a discussed above for the case where the unique labels are dyes. Here the 3′-OH is capped in all four nucleotide analogues, which then can be mixed together with DNA polymerase and used to evaluate the sequencing system using a scheme similar to that in
The approach disclosed herein comprises detecting four unique photoreleased mass tags, which can have molecular weights from 150 to 250 daltons, to decode the DNA sequence, thereby obviating the issue of detecting large DNA fragments using a mass spectrometer as well as the stringent sample requirement for using mass spectrometry to directly detect long DNA fragments. It takes 10 seconds or less to analyze each mass tag using the APCI mass spectrometer. With 8 miniaturized APCI mass spectrometers in a system, close to 100,000 bp of high quality digital DNA sequencing data could be generated each day by each instrument using this approach. Since there is no separation and purification requirements using this approach, such a system is cost effective.
To make mass spectrometry competitive with a 96 capillary array method for analyzing DNA, a parallel mass spectrometer approach is needed. Such a complete system has not been reported mainly due to the fact that most of the mass spectrometers are designed to achieve adequate resolution for large biomolecules. The system disclosed herein requires the detection of four mass tags, with molecular weight range between 150 and 250 daltons, coding for the identity of the four nucleotides (A, C, G, T). Since a mass spectrometer dedicated to detection of these mass tags only requires high resolution for the mass range of 150 to 250 daltons instead of covering a wide mass range, the mass spectrometer can be miniaturized and have a simple design. Either quadrupole (including ion trap detector) or time-of-flight mass spectrometers can be selected for the ion optics. While modern mass spectrometer technology has made it possible to produce miniaturized mass spectrometers, most current research has focused on the design of a single stand-alone miniaturized mass spectrometer. Individual components of the mass spectrometer has been miniaturized for enhancing the mass spectrometer analysis capability (Liu et al. 2000, Zhang et al. 1999). A miniaturized mass spectrometry system using multiple analyzers (up to 10) in parallel has been reported (Badman and Cooks 2000). However, the mass spectrometer of Badman and Cook was designed to measure only single samples rather than multiple samples in parallel. They also noted that the miniaturization of the ion trap limited the capability of the mass spectrometer to scan wide mass ranges. Since the approach disclosed herein focuses on detecting four small stable mass tags (the mass range is less than 300 daltons), multiple miniaturized APCI mass spectrometers are easily constructed and assembled into a single unit for parallel analysis of the mass tags for DNA sequencing analysis.
A complete parallel mass spectrometry system includes multiple APCI sources interfaced with multiple analyzers, coupled with appropriate electronics and power supply configuration. A mass spectrometry system with parallel detection capability will overcome the throughput bottleneck issue for application in DNA analysis. A parallel system containing multiple mass spectrometers in a single device is illustrated in
As illustrated in
The tumor suppressor gene p53 can be used as a model system to validate the DNA sequencing system. The p53 gene is one of the most frequently mutated genes in human cancer (O'Connor et al. 1997). First, a base pair DNA template (shown below) is synthesized containing an azido group at the 5′ end and a portion of the sequences from exon 7 and exon 8 of the p53 gene:
This template is chosen to explore the use of the sequencing system for the detection of clustered hot spot single base mutations. The potentially mutated bases are underlined (A, G, C and T) in the synthetic template. The synthetic template is immobilized on a sequencing chip or glass channels, then the loop primer is ligated to the immobilized template as described in
This application is a continuation of U.S. Ser. No. 10/702,203, filed Nov. 4, 2003, now U.S. Pat. No. 7,345,159 which is a divisional of U.S. Ser. No. 09/972,364, filed Oct. 5, 2001, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,664,079, issued Dec. 16, 2003, which claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/300,894, filed Jun. 26, 2001, and is a continuation-in-part of U.S. Ser. No. 09/684,670, filed Oct. 6, 2000, now abandoned, the contents of each of which are hereby incorporated by reference in their entireties into this application.
The invention disclosed herein was made with government support under National Science Foundation award no. BES0097793. Accordingly, the U.S. Government has certain rights in this invention.
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