Enrichment of target sequences

1. A method for ligating an adapter to a 5′ end of a target sequence in a population of nucleic acids, wherein at least some of the nucleic acids in the population of nucleic acids contain the target sequence, the method comprising the following steps, performed in order:

(a) combining the population of nucleic acids and a target isolation probe in a solution, wherein the target isolation probe is a nucleic acid probe and comprises an affinity binding domain;

(b) permitting a single stranded region of the target isolation probe to hybridize to a portion of a target sequence in the population of nucleic acids, thereby producing hybridized nucleic acids comprising the target sequence with a 5′ single stranded region;

(c) enriching the hybridized nucleic acids of step (b) by associating the target isolation probe with a capture domain that is tethered to a support, thereby producing enriched nucleic acids comprising the hybridized nucleic acids that are tethered to the support;

(d) extending, in the presence of a polymerase, the 3′ end of the target isolation probe in the enriched nucleic acids that are tethered to the support using the 5′ single stranded region of the target sequence of the enriched nucleic acids as a template, thereby forming a blunt end or a staggered end at the 5′ end of the target sequence of the enriched nucleic acids; and

(e) while the enriched nucleic acids are tethered to the support, ligating a 5′ adaptor to the 5′ end of the target sequence of the enriched nucleic acids at the blunt or staggered end, thereby producing an adaptor-ligated target sequence in the enriched nucleic acids.

2. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the portion of the target sequence of step (b) is positioned at the 3′ end of the target sequence.

3. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the affinity binding domain is positioned between the 3′ end of the target isolation probe and the 5′ end of the target isolation probe.

4. The method according to claim 1 , wherein:

the at least some of the nucleic acids further comprise a 3′ nontarget sequence, wherein the hybridized nucleic acids of step (b) comprise the 3′ non-target sequence, the enriched nucleic acids comprise the 3′ non-target sequence and the 3′ non-target sequence is single-stranded, wherein

the method further comprises removing the 3′ non-target sequence from the enriched nucleic acids using one or more 3′ single strand-specific exonucleases to generate a blunt ended duplex at the 3′ end of the target sequence in the enriched nucleic acids or a staggered end at the 3′ end of the target sequence in the enriched nucleic acids.

5. The method according to claim 4 , wherein the method further comprises ligating a 3′ adaptor to the 3′ end of the target sequence of the enriched nucleic acids, wherein the 3′ adaptor is a duplex adaptor or a hairpin adaptor.

6. The method according to claim 5 , wherein the 3′ adaptor is a next generation sequencing (NGS) platform-specific adaptor, an adaptor that contains a single nucleotide overhang, a Y structure or hairpin adaptor with a cleavable site, a fully complementary double-stranded DNA (dsDNA) adaptor, or a dsDNA adaptor with a single-stranded DNA (ssDNA) overhang.

7. The method according to claim 5 , wherein the 3′ end of the 3′ adaptor contains a dideoxynucleotide; and wherein the 5′ end of the 3′ adaptor lacks a phosphate group.

8. The method according to claim 1 , wherein step (d) is performed in the presence of a modified deoxynucleotide.

9. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the target isolation probe is modified at its 3′ end and/or its 5′ end to prevent exonuclease degradation of the target isolation probe.

10. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the target isolation probe is modified at its 5′ end to prevent ligation of the target isolation probe at its 5′ end.

11. The method according to claim 1 wherein the target isolation probe is modified by adding an inverted base, a carbon linker, a phosphorothioate linkage or a dideoxynucleotide to the target isolation probe.

12. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the target isolation probe is modified by adding deoxyuracils, internal carbon linkers or one or more ribonucleotides to the target isolation probe.

13. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the 5′ adaptor is a duplex adaptor or a hairpin 5′ adaptor.

14. The method according to claim 13 , wherein the 5′ adaptor is a NGS platform-specific adaptor, an adaptor that contains a single nucleotide overhang, a Y structure or hairpin adaptor with a cleavable site, a fully complementary double-stranded DNA (dsDNA) adaptor, or a dsDNA adaptor with a single-stranded DNA (ssDNA) overhang.

15. The method according to claim 13 , wherein the 5′ adaptor comprises at least one of a sequencing primer site, a library amplification primer site, a unique sample identifier and a unique molecule identifier sequence.

16. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising amplifying the adaptor-ligated target sequence of the enriched nucleic acids to produce an amplification product.

17. The method according to claim 16 , wherein said amplifying the adaptor-ligated target sequence of the enriched nucleic acids is performed using primers that can add a sequencing platform-specific sequence to the amplification product.

18. The method according to claim 16 , further comprising quantifying and/or sequencing the target sequence.

19. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising quantifying and/or sequencing the target sequence.