Abstract: A method for analysing a target polynucleotide having distinct units of nucleic acid sequence comprising: (i) forming a first polynucleotide which is a concatemer having multiple repeating target polynucleotide sequences; (ii) forming on the first polynucleotide a second polynucleotide hybridised to a portion of one or more of the target polynucleotides, such that the portion hybridised, or the portion not hybridised, corresponds to a sequence unit on the target, and determining the sequence unit on the target.

Abstract: A method of identifying at least one characteristic of a target molecule comprises the steps of: (i) converting the at least one characteristic into a signal polynucleotide; and (ii) identifying the signal polynucleotide sequence, thereby identifying the at least one characteristic of the target molecule wherein each signal polynucleotide comprises at least one control sequence that defines a characteristic of the signal polynucleotide, and wherein identification of the control sequence confirms whether the signal polynucleotide sequence has been identified correctly, and, optionally, if the identification is not correct, provides the necessary information to determine what the correct signal polynucleotide sequence should be.

Abstract: The present invention provides a method of sequencing all or part of a target nucleic acid molecule by determining the sequence of a portion of said nucleic acid molecule in addition to information regarding the position of said portion and in particular provides a new method of sequencing involving the magnification of one or more bases of said bases to aid identification.