REVIEW: Nanocolonies: Detection, Cloning, and Analysis of Individual Molecules

---

H. V. Chetverina^* and A. B. Chetverin

Institute of Protein Research, Russian Academy of Sciences, 142290 Pushchino, Moscow Region, Russia; E-mail: helena@vega.protres.ru

^* To whom correspondence should be addressed.

Received March 23, 2008; Revision received May 5, 2008

---

Nanocolonies (other names molecular colonies or polonies) are formed upon template nanomolecule (DNA or RNA) amplification in immobilized medium with efficient pore size in the nanometer range. This work deals with the principle, invention, development, and diverse nanocolony applications based on their unique abilities to compartmentalize amplification and expression of individual DNA and RNA molecules, including studying reactions between single molecules, digital molecular diagnostics, in vitro gene cloning and expression, as well as identification of the molecular cis-elements including DNA sequencing, analysis of single-nucleotide polymorphism, and alternative splicing investigation.

---

KEY WORDS: molecular colonies, polonies, RNA recombination, RNA self-recombination, molecular cloning, gene expression, molecular diagnostics, DNA sequencing, single-nucleotide polymorphism, alternative splicing, fluorescence detection, detection in real time

DOI: 10.1134/S0006297908130014

---