Johnson & Johnson Clinical Diagnostics, Inc.

Eastman-kodak Company

David J Sharkey

Edward R Scalice

John L Daiss

Theodore W Esders

Kenneth G Christy, Jr

Richard C Sutton

JoAnne H Kerschner

John W Backus

Tobias E Ekeze

Nucleic acids can be made available for amplification or other treatment after lysis by contacting the lysate with polyethyleneimine to form a precipitate with the nucleic acids. The nucleic acids are then released from the precipitate by contact with a strong base, and the released nucleic acids are kept in solution with an anionic phosphate ester surfactant. This method for preparing specimen samples is simple and quite rapid.

Methods for capture and selective release of nucleic acids using

Antibodies which are specific to a thermostable DNA polymerase can be used to reduce or eliminate the formation of non-specific products in polymerase chain reaction methods. These antibodies and other temperature sensitive inhibitors are effective to inhibit DNA polymerase enzymatic activity at a certain temperature T.sub.1 which is generally below about 85.degree. C. The inhibitors are irreversibly inactivated at temperature T.sub.2 which is generally above about 40.degree. C. T.sub.2 is also greater than T.sub.1. Such inhibitors can be supplied individually or in admixture with the DNA polymerase in a diagnostic test kit suitable for PCR.

Thermostable polymerase specific antibody-containing DNA amplification

DNA amplification with thermostable DNA polymerase and polymerase

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Rochester, NY, United States of America

David J Sharkey