Patent ID: 7090977

Claim:
A method for detecting nucleic acid hybridization comprising the steps of: (1) fixing probe nucleic acid having thiol group on the position of 5 ′-phosphate on a surface of working electrode in a reaction container; (2) washing the surface of working electrode to which the probe nucleic acid is fixed, with phosphoric acid solution, followed by immersing into a buffer solution, which contains target nucleic acid having base sequences complementary to the probe nucleic acid, in order to allow hybridization to occur; (3) adding the buffer solution dissolved with intercalators to the hybridized nucleic acid, in order to bind the intercalators to the hybridized double-stranded nucleic acid; (4) removing any intercalators that remain unbound by washing with the buffer solution; (5) placing the working electrode, on which hybridization and the binding of the intercalator occurred, into a measurement container, followed by adding transition metallic complex that is dissolved in the buffer solution, and installing a reference electrode and a counter electrode; and (6) applying a voltage on the electrodes and inducing oxidation-reduction reaction of the transition metallic complex by the binding of the intercalator to the double-stranded nucleic acid, to thereby cause an electrochemiluminescence reaction.