Patent ID: 7297485

Claim:
A method of amplifying nucleic acids, the method comprising, exposing a sample suspected of containing nucleic acids to alkaline conditions, reducing the pH of all or a portion of the sample to form a stabilized sample, and incubating an amplification mixture under conditions that promote replication of the nucleic acids from the sample, wherein the amplification mixture comprises all or a portion of the stabilized sample, wherein the conditions that promote replication of the nucleic acids are carried out in the absence of thermal cycling, wherein the concentration of the nucleic acids in the amplification mixture favors hybridization of primers over reassociation of the nucleic acids, wherein target nucleic acids in the sample are preferentially replicated over non-target nucleic acids in the sample, wherein replication of the nucleic acids results in replicated strands, wherein during replication at least one of the replicated strands is displaced from nucleic acids in the sample by strand displacement replication of another replicated strand, wherein the replicated strands have low amplification bias.