Method of designing probes for detecting target sequence and method of detecting target sequence using the probes

1. A method of selecting a pair of probe sequences for detecting a target sequence in a reaction sample comprising the target sequence and a plurality of non-target sequences, the method comprising:

selecting an anchoring location in a target sequence, wherein the anchoring location is a location in the target sequence at which a first non-target sequence in a plurality of non-target sequences is different from the target sequence, wherein the first non-target sequence has a sequence similarity to the target sequence that is identical to or higher than the sequence similarity of other non-target sequences in the plurality of non-target sequences;

selecting a first probe designing region in the target sequence, wherein the first probe designing region is a fixed region in the target sequence comprising the anchoring location, wherein the first probe designing region is represented by formula 1:

i−n +1 ≦first probe designing region≦ i+n −1  formula 1

wherein, i is the anchoring location and n is the length of a probe;

selecting a second probe designing region, wherein the second probe designing region is represented by formula 2 when the length of the probe is an odd number and by formula 3 when the length of the probe is an even number:

i −( n −1)/2≦second probe designing region≦ i +( n− 1)/2;   formula 2

i−n/ 2+1≦second probe designing region≦ i+n/ 2−1;   formula 3

identifying a location in the second probe designing region of the target sequence at which a second non-target sequence in the plurality of non-target sequences differs from the target sequence;

selecting the identified location as a probe selection location;

selecting a matched probe sequence, wherein the probe selection location is at the center of the matched probe sequence; and

selecting a mismatched probe sequence, wherein the mismatched probe sequence is longer than the matched probe sequence, wherein the probe selection location is at a first location in the mismatched probe sequence and the mismatched location is at a second location in the mismatched probe sequence,

wherein the steps are executed by a suitably programmed computer.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein if multiple non-target sequences in the plurality have a sequence similarity to the target sequence which is the highest sequence similarity present in the plurality, and if the locations at which each non-target sequence with the highest sequence similarity differs from the target sequence are different, then the anchoring location is any one of the locations.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein if multiple non-target sequences have the highest sequence similarity to the target sequence can be grouped based on the location of difference with the target sequence and there are 2 or more groups, then the anchoring location is selected to be the location of the group having highest frequency of occurrence.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein if multiple non-target sequences have the highest sequence similarity to the target sequence can be grouped based on the location of difference with the target sequence and there are 2 or more groups, and each group has the same frequency, then the anchoring location is any one of the locations.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein when a length of the matched probe sequence (n) is an odd number, the center of the matched probe sequence is at a (n+1)/2 th position in the matched probe sequence, and when the length of the matched probe sequence (n) is an even number, the center of the matched probe sequence is at a n/2 th or n/2+1 th position in the matched probe sequence.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first location is at ⅓ of a length of the mismatched probe sequence, and the second location is at ⅔ of the length of the mismatched probe sequence.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein for the mismatched probe sequence of length m,

if the length of the mismatched probe sequence is a multiple of 3, the locations corresponding to ⅓ and ⅔ of the length of the mismatched probe sequence are at m/3th and 2m/3+1 th positions, respectively;

if the length of the mismatched probe sequence m is a multiple of 3+1, the locations corresponding to ⅓ and ⅔ of the length of the mismatched probe sequence are at descending order of m/3 and (descending value of m/3)×2+1 th positions, respectively or (descending value of m/3)+1 st and (descending value of m/3)×2+2th positions, respectively; and

if the length of the mismatched probe sequence m is a multiple of 3+2, the locations corresponding to ⅓ and ⅔ of the length of the mismatched probe sequence are at (descending value of m/3)+1 st and (descending value of m/)×2+2 nd positions, respectively.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein a length of the matched probe sequence is 17 to 25 bp and a length of the mismatched probe sequence is 25 to 36 bp.

9. A method of detecting a target sequence, the method comprising:

contacting a sample comprising nucleic acid with a matched probe and a mismatched probe having the matched probe sequence and the mismatched probe sequence selected by the method of claim 1 ;

detecting hybridization between the matched probe or the mismatched probe and nucleic acid present in the sample; and

determining the presence or absence of the target sequence in the sample by comparing the detected hybridization with hybridization of a reference sample containing only the target sequence.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein the matched probe and the mismatched probe are immobilized on a microarray substrate.

11. The method of claim 10 , further comprising after the step of contacting the sample with the matched probe and the mismatched probe:

washing the microarray substrate.

12. The method of claim 9 , wherein detecting hybridization comprises

detecting a fluorescence intensity; and

determining that hybridization occurred if the fluorescence intensity is above a fixed value.

13. A computer readable storage medium having recorded thereon a program for causing a computer to perform the method according to claim 1 .