Patent ID: 8354227

Claim:
A non-naturally occurring binary oligonucleotide enzyme probe comprising: i) a first oligonucleotide strand comprising: a. at its 5′-terminus a first substrate binding arm that is complementary to and hybridizes to a first portion of a substrate, b. a first catalytic core fragment that flanks the first substrate binding arm, c. a first probe binding arm that flanks the first catalytic core fragment, which first probe binding arm is complementary to and hybridizes to second probe binding arm on a second oligonucleotide strand when the first and second oligonucleotide strands are bound to the analyte, d. at its 3′-terminus a first analyte binding arm that flanks the first probe binding arm, which first analyte binding arm is complementary to and hybridizes to a first portion of the analyte; and e. a first structure stabilization arm at the 3′ terminus flanking the first analyte binding arm, which first structure stabilization arm is complementary to and hybridizes to a nucleotide sequence in the first oligonucleotide strand, and ii) the second oligonucleotide strand comprising: a. at its 3′-terminus a second substrate binding arm that is complementary to and hybridizes to a second portion of the substrate, b. a second catalytic core fragment that flanks the second substrate binding arm, c. the second probe binding arm that flanks the second catalytic core fragment, which second probe binding arm is complementary to and hybridizes to the first probe binding arm when the first and second oligonucleotide strands are bound to the analyte, d. at its 5′-terminus a second analyte binding arm that flanks the second probe binding arm, which second analyte binding arm is complementary to and hybridizes to a second portion of the analyte, and e. a second structure stabilization arm at the 3′ terminus flanking the second analyte binding arm, which second structure stabilization arm is complementary to and hybridizes to a nucleotide sequence in the second oligonucleotide strand, and wherein upon binding of the probe to the analyte, the first and second catalytic core fragments form a single active catalytic core that cleaves the substrate, thereby generating a detectable signal.