The United States of America, as Represented by the Secretary, Department of Health and Human Services

Christopher Micklitsch

Daniel H Appella

Bereket Yemane

Chao Zhao

The invention concerns methods for detecting a nucleic acid of interest in a solution comprising (a) contacting a solution suspected of containing the nucleic acid of interest with a PNA capture probe and a PNA reporter probe; wherein (i) the PNA capture probe comprises at least two trans-cyclopentanes; (ii) the PNA reporter probe comprises at least six biotin groups; (iii) the PNA capture probe bound to a surface; and (iv) the PNA capture probe and the PNA reporter probe each comprise a nucleobase sequence that is complementary to different non-overlapping portions of the nucleic acid of interest; (b) detecting the presence of the PNA capture probe and the PNA reporter probe bound to the surface; wherein the nucleic acid of interest is detected when 1-1000 molecules of the nucleic acid of interest are present in the solution being tested.

Cyclopentane-peptide nucleic acids for qualitative and quantitative detection of nucleic acids

Disclosed is a method for lowering the detection limit in a method of detecting a nucleic acid comprising (i) contacting a solution comprising a first PNA with a substrate having a second PNA affixed thereto, the second PNA comprising at least one trans-cyclopentane residue, wherein the first PNA has two linker-attached biotins attached thereto and the first and second PNAs being complementary to different portions of a target DNA; (ii) contacting a sample suspected of containing the nucleic acid with the first and second PNAs; and (iii) determining the presence of the reporter molecule on the substrate. Also disclosed are a detection assay and a kit for detecting a target nucleic acid.

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Gaithersburg, MD, United States of America

Christopher Micklitsch