Patent ID: 8063190

Claim:
A conjugate molecule comprising a multiplicity of proteins, wherein at least a first and second proteins are linked to each other by a flexible nucleic acid linker that is flexible due to the flexibility of single stranded nucleic acid such that the first and second proteins can bind to nonoverlapping epitopes on a desirable analyte and wherein the linker is formed by two nucleic acid single chains of which the first is covalently linked to the first protein and the second is covalently linked to the second protein, and wherein the nucleic acid single chains form a double-stranded heteroduplex of from 10 to 30 base-pairs in length, and wherein at least one of the first and second single stranded nucleic acids has a segment comprising from 6 to 20 consecutive nucleotides that remain free of any base-pairing interaction, and connects the covalent link to the corresponding protein to the heteroduplex.