eland The SEE Sharp Kabushiki Kaisha retary of State for Defence, The Detection system

摘要

A method for detecting the presence of a target nucleic acid sequence in a sample is provided. The method comprises subjecting the sample to an amplification reaction to obtain an amplification product where the target nucleic acid sequence is present using a set of nucleotides, at least one of which is fluorescently labelled. The amplification product is contacted with a probe under conditions in which the probe will hybridise to the target sequence. The probe comprises a reactive molecule which is capable of absorbing fluorescence energy from or donating fluorescent energy to the fluorescent labelled nucleotide. The fluorescence of the sample is monitored and related to the presence of the target nucleic acid sequence. The method can be used to quantitate the amount of target nucleic acid in the sample as well as to determine sequence characteristics. Kits for effecting the method are also provided.