Preparation of templates for nucleic acid sequencing

1. A method of generating a template for a nucleic acid sequencing reaction comprising,

(i) providing a solid support comprising a plurality of forward amplification primers and a plurality of reverse amplification primers, wherein said plurality of forward amplification primers or said plurality of reverse amplification primers comprises one or more methylated nucleotides;

(ii) amplifying a template using the primers on the support to produce a plurality of double-stranded nucleic acid molecules, wherein both strands of the molecules are attached to the solid support at their 5′ ends, thereby producing a hemimethylated duplex structure in each double-stranded nucleic acid molecule;

(iii) cleaving one strand of the double stranded molecules at said hemimethylated duplex structure with an endonuclease enzyme specific for a recognition sequence including the one or more methylated nucleotides;

(iv) subjecting the cleaved strand to denaturing conditions to remove the portion of the cleaved strand not attached to the solid support, thereby generating partially or substantially single-stranded templates for a nucleic acid sequencing reaction.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the double-stranded nucleic acid molecules each comprise a target region flanked by non-target sequences derived from the amplification primers used for amplification.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the recognition sequence including the one or more methylated nucleotides is located within the non-target sequences of the double-stranded nucleic acid molecules.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein amplification of the template forms a cluster comprising the plurality of double-stranded molecules.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising performing a sequencing reaction to determine the sequence of at least one region of the partially or substantially single-stranded templates.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein the sequence of said at least one region of the partially or substantially single-stranded templates is determined.

7. The method of claim 5 , wherein the sequencing reaction comprises sequencing-by-synthesis.

8. The method of claim 5 , wherein the sequencing reaction comprises pyrosequencing or sequencing-by-ligation.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the solid support comprises a hydrogel.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein the hydrogel is a polyacrylamide hydrogel.

11. The method of claim 9 , wherein the solid support is prepared by a method comprising polymerizing on the solid support a mixture of:

(i) a first comonomer which is acrylamide, methacrylamide, hydroxyethyl methacrylate or N-vinyl pyrrolidinone; and

(ii) a second comonomer which is a functionalized acrylamide or acrylate of formula (I):

H2C═C(H)—C(═O)-A-B—C  (I);

or a methacrylate or methacrylamide of formula (II):

H2C═C(CH3)-C(═O)-A-B—C  (II);

wherein

A is NR or O, wherein R is hydrogen or an optionally substituted saturated hydrocarbyl group comprising 1 to 5 carbon atoms;

B is an optionally substituted alkylene biradical of formula —(CHn)- wherein n is an integer from 1 to 50; and wherein n=2 or more, one or more optionally substituted ethylene biradicals —CH2CH2- of said alkylene biradical may be independently replaced by ethenylene and ethynylene moieties; and wherein n=1 or more, one or more methylene biradicals —CH2- may be replaced independently with an optionally substituted mono- or polycyclic hydrocarbon biradical comprising from 4 to 50 carbon atoms, or a corresponding deteromonocyclic or heteropolycyclic biradical wherein at least 1 CH2 or CH2 is substituted by an oxygen sulfur or nitrogen atom or an NH group; and

C of A-B—C of formulas (I) or (II) is a group for reaction with a compound to bind said compound covalently to said hydrogel to form a polymerized product, characterized in that polymerization is conducted on and immobilized the polymerized product to a solid support that is not covalently surface-modified.