Patent ID: 7754475

Claim:
A probe set for detecting a target polynucleotide, comprising: a) a first oligonucleotide bound to a surface of a solid support by its 3′ end and comprises: i) a surface-proximal target complementary region that base-pairs with said target polynucleotide to form a probe/target duplex; and ii) a surface-distal stem-complementary region; and b) a second oligonucleotide comprising a loop region and a stem region, wherein said stem region is complementary to said stem-complementary region, wherein hybridization of said first oligonucleotide and said second oligonucleotide results in a stem-loop in which the 3′ terminal nucleotide of said second oligonucleotide is directly adjacent to the 5′ terminal nucleotide of said first oligonucleotide, wherein said stem-loop stabilizes said probe/target duplex.