Patent ID: 8551697

Claim:
A nucleic acid detection method comprising: cleaving a portion of labeled probes in an isothermal amplification process to form a labeled cleaved oligonucleotide probe and a labeled uncleaved oligonucleotide probe, wherein the labeled cleaved oligonucleotide probe consists of a labeled cleaved oligonucleotide flap and an electrochemical label attached thereto, and the uncleaved oligonucleotide probe consists of an uncleaved oligonucleotide flap and an electrochemical label attached thereto; forming a first nucleic acid double-stranded structure between the labeled cleaved oligonucleotide flap of the labeled cleaved oligonucleotide probe, a bridging oligonucleotide, and a capture oligonucleotide that is immobilized on a surface, such that the labeled cleaved oligonucleotide flap and the capture oligonucleotide are hybridized to immediately adjacent, complementary regions of the bridging oligonucleotide; contacting a ligase with the first nucleic acid double-stranded structure; detecting, in real time, the first nucleic acid double-stranded structure during the isothermal amplification process by electrochemically detecting the electrochemical label of the labeled cleaved oligonucleotide probe by using a method selected from voltammetric methods, potentiometric methods, amperometric methods, and combinations thereof, wherein the isothermal amplification process is selected from the group consisting of Helicase Dependent Amplification, Rolling Circle Amplification, Nucleic Acid Sequence Based Amplification, Ramification Amplification Method, Logarithmic Isothermal DNA Amplification, Transcription-Mediated Amplification, Loop-mediated Isothermal Amplification, Isothermal and Chimeric Primer-Initiated Amplification of Nucleic Acids, Strand Displacement Amplification, and Recombinase-Polymerase Amplification; and forming a second nucleic acid double-stranded structure between a labeled uncleaved oligonucleotide flap, a bridging oligonucleotide, and a capture oligonucleotide that is immobilized on a surface, such that the labeled uncleaved oligonucleotide flap and the capture oligonucleotide are hybridized to immediately adjacent, complimentary regions of the bridging oligonucleotide, wherein the first and second nucleic acid double stranded structures are washed at a temperature greater than the melting temperature of the second nucleic acid double stranded structure.