PREMIER Biosoft Releases Version 3 of AlleleID®, a Pathogen Identification System for Real Time PCR Diagnostic Assays and Microarrays

Palo Alto, California--May 1, 2006, PREMIER Biosoft International today announced the world wide release of version 3 of AlleleID®, the only tool available for designing pathogen identification assays for both qPCR and microarrays. In addition to the support of popular real time PCR chemistries such as TaqMan®, beacon and FRET, version 3 includes support for TaqMan® MGB (Minor Groove Binding) probes.

"With the release of AlleleID® version 3, PREMIER Biosoft International has taken a step further in making a universal pathogen identification system available." says Kay Brown, V.P. Business Development and Marketing. "We are pleased with how well AlleleID® has been received by researcher all over the world. We are proud to have organizations such as FDA, CDC, and USDA as our customers."

AlleleID® helps design microarrays and real time PCR diagnostic assays for rapid bacterial or pathogen identification. AlleleID® can be effectively used in developing assays for biodefense, environmental monitoring, prevention/control of infectious diseases, development of surveillance tests and biodiversity studies.

To design species identification assays, AlleleID® aligns sequences using ClustalW and analyzes conserved and species specific regions to design molecular probes for microarrays and TaqMan®/molecular beacon real time PCR assays. The assays are designed to detect only the strain or species of interest from the mix. For cross species assays, AlleleID® identifies conserved regions of related organisms that can be used with samples from any of the organisms. This powerful functionality can also be used for detection, identification, quantification of contaminants for environmental monitoring.

"Minimal Set", one of the most innovative features in AlleleID®, helps design the fewest number of primers and probes that uniquely identify each of the desired species/strain/taxa from the mix, lowering assay costs. For taxa or cross species assays, this feature is especially useful when the group or taxa is highly dissimilar. For a partial set of pre-designed or published set of primers, AlleleID® can design compatible primers and probes for the rest of sequences for species or taxa specific assays.

AlleleID® employs a sophisticated algorithm to assure assay success. Highly specific oligos are designed by avoiding regions of significant homology found by automatically interpreting BLAST search results. The oligos designed can be BLAST searched, to verify their specificity. Primer efficiency is enhanced by automatically avoiding template secondary structures. For details, please visit: http://www.premierbiosoft.com.