Patent ID: 7057025

Claim:
A binary-probe composition for hybridizing to a target polynucleotide sequence comprising: a probe comprising a target-specific portion and a clamp-specific portion wherein the target-specific portion is capable of sequence-specific binding to a target polynucleotide sequence; and a clamp comprising two probe-specific portions and one or more labels wherein the two probe-specific portions of the clamp are capable of sequence-specific binding to the clamp-specific portion of the probe, the two probe-specific portions of the clamp are incapable of sequence-specific binding to the target polynucleotide, and the clamp is non-extendable by a polymerase; wherein the binary-probe composition is formed by hybridizing the clamp-specific portion of the probe to the two probe-specific portions of the clamp by sequence-specific binding to form a triplex structure.