OmniPlex Technology is a new approach to genome amplification and targeted analysis. Initially the entire genome is reformatted into small, amplifiable molecules called Plexisomes, which represent the entire genome as an OmniPlex Library. The whole genome can be amplified en masse using universal primers; using locus-specific primers, regions as large as 50 kb can be amplified. Amplified Plexisomes can be analyzed using conventional methods such as capillary sequencing and microarray hybridization. The advantages to using OmniPlex as the 'front-end' for conventional analytical instruments are that a) the initial copy number of the analytes can be increased to achieve better signal-to-noire ratio, b) only a single priming site is used and c) up to 20 times fewer biochemical reactions and oligonucleotides are necessary to amplify a large region, compared to conventional PCR. These factors make OmniPlex more flexible, faster, and less expensive than conventional technologies. OmniPlex has been applied to targeted sequencing of human, animal, plant, and microorganism genomes. In addition, OmniPlex is inherently able to haplotype large regions of human DNA to accelerate target discovery and pharmacogenomics. OmniPlex will be a key tool for delivery of improved crops and livestock, new pharmaceutical products, and personalized medicine.
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