摘要 |
The present invention provides a method for detecting methylated nucleic aci ds comprising the steps of: 1) contacting a nucleic acid sample suspected of containing methylated nucleotides with an oligonucleotide sequence under suitable conditions for nucleic acid hybridization, said oligonucleotide sequence characterised in that, (i) it comprises a first stem labeled with a fluorophore moiety, a loop sequence having a region of nucleotides complementary to at least a region of the nucleic acid sample, which region is susceptible to methylation, and a second stem labeled with a quencher moiety that is capable of quenching the fluorophore moiety when in spatial proximit y to the fluorophore moiety; and (ii) the nucleotides forming the first stem a re capable of moving into spatial proximity with the nucleotides forming the second stem when the probe is dissociated from the nucleic acid sample; 2) altering the hybridization conditions such that the oligonucleotide probe dissociates from unmethylated DNA but remains hybridized to methylated DNA; and 3) measuring the change in fluorescence.
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