Ultrafast sequencing of oligodeoxyribonucleotides by FAB-mass spectrometry.

A fully instrumental method is described for the bidirectional sequencing of oligodeoxyribonucleotides. The method makes use of the negative ion fragmentation patterns of fast atom bombardment mass spectrometry. It is less time consuming than any other sequencing procedure known to date. Since one sequencing run takes as little as one hour, this new method is anticipated to cut down considerably the time required for the controlled synthesis of oligodeoxyribonucleotides of (currently) up to ten nucleotide units in length.