Patent ID: RE38960

Claim:
A method for amplifying a specific nucleic acid target sequence preferentially over non-target sequences, comprising the steps of: providing the following to a sample containing a nucleic acid strand which includes said target sequence: a nucleic acid polymerase lacking 5′ exonuclease activity; at least one nucleoside triphosphate selected from adenosine, thymidine, guanosine and cytidine triphosphate; and at least two different complementary primers and at least two different sense primers under primer extension conditions, wherein each said complementary primer contains a nucleotide base sequence which is designed to be complementary to a nucleic acid sequence on said nucleic acid strand located 3′ to said target sequence, wherein said nucleotide base sequence of each said complementary primer is able to hybridize to a nucleic acid sequence on said nucleic acid strand under said conditions, wherein each said sense primer contains a nucleotide base sequence which is designed to be analogous to a nucleic acid sequence on said nucleic acid strand located 5′ to said target sequence, and wherein said nucleotide base sequence of each said sense primer is able to hybridize to a nucleic acid sequence complementary to a nucleic acid sequence on said nucleic acid strand under said conditions; and amplifying said target sequence at an essentially constant temperature and in the absence of an added restriction endonuclease active on a product of said amplification , wherein said amplifying step is performed in the absence of a complementary or sense primer containing a promoter site for an RNA polymerase .