SEQUENCE INDEPENDENT IDENTIFICATION OF VIRUSES

摘要

A method for identifying a virus in a biological sample from a human is provided, the method comprising subjecting the sample to conditions which purify viral nucleic acid, shotgun cloning the purified viral nucleic acid, sequencing the cloned nucleic acid, and determining whether the sequence of the cloned nucleic acid is present in, or absent from, at least one human genomic database; wherein presence of the sequence in the database indicates that the cloned nucleic acid is a human nucleic acid which contaminated the purified viral nucleic acid, and absence of the sequence from the database indicates that the cloned nucleic acid may be a viral nucleic acid. If the sequence is absent from the database, the nucleic acid may then be studied further to confirm or deny that it is form an unknown virus.