Nucleotide Sequence Determination As a Diagnostic Tool

Identification of nucleic acids is a valuable tool in diagnostics due to the high specificity of this approach. Nucleic acid hybridization identifies and quantifies specific genes. Hybridization with oligonucleotide probes or nucleotide sequencing can be used to detect genetic variations even as small as point mutations. Widespread diagnostic use of nucleic acid analyses has been limited by the very small amount of analyte present in most applications.