A method is disclosed for the modification of an end of RNA molecules and
the use of such modified RNA molecules in cDNA synthesis for the purpose
of cloning, detection, sequencing, and amplification of parts of the
RNAs, the entire RNAs, or any cDNAs derived from such modified RNAs. The
invention relates further to the amplification and the identification of
nucleic acid molecules for the purpose of single molecule detection
and/or high-throughput sequencing. In addition, a method is provided for
the preparation of pooled samples that contains molecules each of which
is marked by an "Identifier Sequence" for its origin. The invention
facilitates studies on biological systems and analysis of genes expressed
therein.