Improved chips for sequencing by hybridization.

The SHOM method (Sequencing by Hybridization with Oligonucleotide Matrix) developed in 1988 is a new approach to nucleic acid sequencing by hybridization to an oligonucleotide matrix composed of an array of immobilized oligonucleotides. The original matrix proposed for sequencing by SHOM had to contain at least 65,536 octanucleotides. The present work describes a new family of matrices, which allows one to reduce the number of synthesized oligonucleotides 5-15 times without essentially decreasing the resolving power of the method.