The present invention provides a system, method and apparatus for targeting gene
sequences having one or more phenotypic characteristics using a computer. One or
more phenotypic characteristics are selected. A gene sequence is then selected
that is known to have the selected phenotypic characteristics. In addition, one
or more databases containing cataloged gene sequences are selected. The selected
gene sequence is compared to the cataloged gene sequences, and any cataloged gene
sequences that contain a portion of the selected gene sequence are extracted. The
selected gene sequence is aligned to each portion of the extracted gene sequence
and the extracted gene sequences are prioritized based on the alignment of the
selected gene sequence. At least one of the prioritized gene sequences is selected
based on one or more phenotypic criteria. Finally, one or more degenerate primers
are designed to target the selected-prioritized gene sequences.
