Patent ID: 7273730

Claim:
A method for amplifying a target nucleic acid sequence present in a template nucleic acid molecule, said method comprising: (a) assembling an amplification reaction mixture comprising: (1) the template, (2) an outer primer pair each of which comprises a sequence with sufficient complementarity to a portion of the template to anneal to the template in an amplification reaction, wherein at least one member of the outer primer pair contains at least one exo-sample nucleotide; (3) at least one inner primer that comprises a sequence with sufficient complementarity to a portion of the template to anneal to the template in an amplification reaction, wherein the portion of the template to which the inner primer anneals is between the portions of the template to which the outer primers anneal; and (4) an agent capable of degrading an exo-sample nucleotide; and (b) conducting an amplification reaction using the amplification reaction mixture; wherein the agent capable of degrading an exo-sample nucleotide is present in the reaction mixture prior to amplification with the outer primer pair.