Patent ID: 8586304

Claim:
A method for specifically detecting and for quantifying ribonucleic acids having a region which comprises about 10 or more successive adenine ribonucleotides contained in a sample, the method comprising the steps of: i) contacting the sample with a poly(dT) oligonucleotide that is capable of hybridizing with ribonucleic acids having a region which comprises about 10 or more successive adenine ribonucleotides and that also comprises a fluorescent dye and a quencher at an emitting wavelength of the fluorescent dye to completely quench a fluorescent signal of the poly(dT) oligonucleotide to the same extent both in the hybridized state and in the non-hybridized state; ii) hybridizing the poly(dT) oligonucleotide to the ribonucleic acids having the region which comprises about 10 or more successive adenine ribonucleotides in the sample to form a hybridization mix, with the fluorescent signal remaining unchanged; iii) contacting the hybridization mix from step ii) with a single-strand-specific nuclease to release fluorescently labelled nucleotides from poly(dT) oligonucleotides that have not hybridized with ribonucleic acids having the region which comprises about 10 or more successive adenine ribonucleotides in the sample, resulting in an increase in the fluorescent signal; and iv) measuring the resulting fluorescent signal and comparing the measured resulting fluorescent signal with either a fluorescent signal from a different sample to relatively quantify the ribonucleic acids having the region which comprises about 10 or more successive adenine ribonucleotides contained in the sample, or a calibration curve to quantify the ribonucleic acids having the region which comprises about 10 or more successive adenine ribonucleotides contained in the sample.