FLUOROPHORE-BASED OLIGONUCLEOTIDE PROBES WITH A UNIVERSAL ELEMENT

摘要

There is provided a method of detecting the presence of a target polynucleotide and/or sequence variations within the target polynucleotide using a probe system comprising two independent partner oligonucleotide components wherein the first oligonucleotide has a first and second section, wherein the first section comprises a nucleotide sequence that is labelled with at least one visually detectable label and is not capable of hybridising to the nucleotide sequence of the target polynucleotide; and wherein the second section comprises a nucleotide sequence that is capable of hybridising to a portion of the sequence of the target polynucleotide; and the second oligonucleotide has a first and second section, wherein the first section comprises a nucleotide sequence which is capable of hybridising to a nucleotide sequence of the first section of the first oligonucleotide; and the second section comprises a nucleotide sequence that is capable of hybridising to a nucleotide sequence of the target polynucleotide that is adjacent to the nucleotide sequence that the second section of the first oligonucleotide is capable of hybridising to. There are also provided alternative methods using additional oligonucleotides and probes for use in such methods.