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.