United States Patent Application Publication: SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR SEQUENCE DISTANCE MEASURE FOR PHYLOGENETIC TREE CONSTRUCTION

Authors

K. Sayood, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow
Hasan H. Otu, Harvard Medical SchoolFollow
Steven H. Hinrichs, University of Nebraska Medical CenterFollow

ORCID IDs

Hasan H. Otu

Date of this Version

2007

Citation

Pub. No.: US 2007/0225918 A1

Pub. Date: Sep. 27, 2007

Comments

Sayood et al.

US 2007/0225918 A1

Abstract

The present invention permits identification of biological materials following recovery of DNA using standard techniques by comparing a mathematical characterization of the unknown sequence with the mathematical characterization of DNA sequences of known genera and species. The clinical identification of infectious organisms is required for accurate diagnosis and selection of antimicrobial therapeutics. The invention allows an ab initio approach with the potential for rapid identification of biological materials of unknown origin. The approach provides for identification and classification of emergent or new organisms without previous phenotypic identification. The technique may also be used in monitoring situations where the need exists for classification of material into broad categories of bacteria which could have an immediate impact on bio-terrorism prevention.