SENSITIZER-LABELED ANALYTE DETECTION

摘要

The invention provides methods for detecting an analyte in a sample including the steps of: (a) exciting a sensitizer label on an analyte; (b) permitting energy from the excited sensitizer label to be transferred to and excite an acceptor molecule, whereby the sensitizer label returns to an unexcited state; (c) reacting the excited acceptor molecule with a chemiluminescent precursor to form a chemiluminescent compound which emits light in response to an activation source; (d) exposing the chemiluminescent compound to the activating source to produce a detectable signal; (e) detecting the signal; and (f) correlating the signal with the presence or absence of the analyte. The chemiluminescent precursor is desirably an olefin capable of being converted to a 1,2-dioxetane. Target amplification techniques, such as PCR, may be used to directly label a target analyte with a sensitizer.