Patent ID: 11866769
Assignee: MIACOM DIAGNOSTICS GMBH
Field: Biotechnology (Chemistry)
Classification: CPC C | IPC C

Claim 0:
1. A combination of nucleic acid molecules capable of hybridizing with a target nucleic acid sequence of a microorganism, wherein the combination comprises:
a) a molecular beacon (first nucleic acid molecule) capable of forming a hair-pin loop comprising
(i) a probe sequence capable of hybridizing with a cognate sequence of the target nucleic acid sequence, wherein the cognate sequence is 16-26 nucleotides long,
(ii) two complementary sequences flanking the probe sequence and capable of forming a stem of the molecular beacon, wherein each of the two complementary sequences has a length of 4 to 10 nucleotides, and
(iii) a luminescent group and a quencher group each being independently attached to one of the two complementary sequences, wherein the quencher group quenches the luminescent group if the first nucleic acid molecule forms the hair-pin loop, and wherein the luminescent group emits a luminescence signal upon excitation if the probe is hybridized with the target nucleic acid sequence,

b) a second nucleic acid molecule and a third nucleic acid molecule, wherein the second nucleic acid molecule and the third nucleic acid molecule comprise sequences that hybridize, under identical hybridization conditions, with the target nucleic acid sequence 5′ or/and 3′ of the cognate sequence, and wherein, the first nucleic acid molecule, the second nucleic acid molecule, and the third nucleic acid molecule each comprise sequences that individually hybridize, under the identical hybridization conditions, to the target nucleic acid sequence with a ΔG (Gibbs energy) value of −15 to −25 kcal/mol, with their respective ΔG values not differing from one another more than 3 kcal/mol.