Patent ID: 7723026

Claim:
A method for the analysis of methylated DNA as compared to background DNA of the same sequence but another methylation pattern comprising: a) converting the DNA to be investigated chemically or enzymatically so that 5-methylcytonise remains unchanged, while unmethylated cytosine is converted to uracil or to another base which differs from cytosine in its base pairing behavior, b) hybridizing the converted DNA with oligonucleotides, whereby the background DNA forms hybrids with erroneous base pairings, c) cleaving the converted DNA strand of the erroneously paired hybrids enzymatically, d) amplifying the uncleaved converted DNA, e) detecting the amplificates, f) concluding the methylation status of the investigated DNA from the detection signal generated in step e), g) wherein steps b) through d) are conducted simultaneously.