A method for random amplification of low input nucleic acid, comprising: mixing in a single container a biological sample containing input nucleic acid, a reverse transcriptase, a thermostable DNA polymerase lacking 5' to 3' proofreading exonuclease activity, a hot-start polymerase chain reaction polymerase, a first oligonucleotide, a second oligonucleotide, deoxynucleotide triphosphates (dNTPs) and reaction buffer, thereby generating a mixture, wherein the first oligonucleotide is 15 to 30 nucleotides in length and the second oligonucleotide consists of the first oligonucleotide with an additional polyN sequence of about 6 to about 10 nucleotides at a 3'-end of the first oligonucleotide; and subjecting the mixture to the following thermocycling steps: an annealing step to permit annealing of the second oligonucleotide to the input nucleic acid; a first synthesis step to permit the reverse transcriptase to generate first strand cDNA; a denaturation step to denature the first strand cDNA from the input nucleic acid and to inactivate the reverse transcriptase; a cooling step to permit annealing of the second oligonucleotide to the first strand cDNA; a second synthesis step to permit the thermostable DNA polymerase to generate second strand cDNA; a hot-start PCR polymerase activation step; and PCR using the first oligonucleotide as primer and the second strand cDNA as template. mixing in a single container a biological sample containing input nucleic acid, a reverse transcriptase, a thermostable DNA polymerase lacking 5' to 3' proofreading exonuclease activity, a hot-start polymerase chain reaction polymerase, a first oligonucleotide, a second oligonucleotide, deoxynucleotide triphosphates (dNTPs) and reaction buffer, thereby generating a mixture, wherein the first oligonucleotide is 15 to 30 nucleotides in length and the second oligonucleotide consists of the first oligonucleotide with an additional polyN sequence of about 6 to about 10 nucleotides at a 3'-end of the first oligonucleotide; and subjecting the mixture to the following thermocycling steps: an annealing step to permit annealing of the second oligonucleotide to the input nucleic acid; a first synthesis step to permit the reverse transcriptase to generate first strand cDNA; a denaturation step to denature the first strand cDNA from the input nucleic acid and to inactivate the reverse transcriptase; a cooling step to permit annealing of the second oligonucleotide to the first strand cDNA; a second synthesis step to permit the thermostable DNA polymerase to generate second strand cDNA; a hot-start PCR polymerase activation step; and PCR using the first oligonucleotide as primer and the second strand cDNA as template. an annealing step to permit annealing of the second oligonucleotide to the input nucleic acid; a first synthesis step to permit the reverse transcriptase to generate first strand cDNA; a denaturation step to denature the first strand cDNA from the input nucleic acid and to inactivate the reverse transcriptase; a cooling step to permit annealing of the second oligonucleotide to the first strand cDNA; a second synthesis step to permit the thermostable DNA polymerase to generate second strand cDNA; a hot-start PCR polymerase activation step; and PCR using the first oligonucleotide as primer and the second strand cDNA as template.