Patent ID: 7118864

Claim:
A method of detecting the presence or absence of an analyte in a sample comprising: (a) contacting said sample with an amplifiable probe under conditions whereby said analyte, if present, binds said amplifiable probe to form a probe/analyte complex, said amplifiable probe comprising: (1) an analyte reactive moiety; (2) at least one extendable signal-generating nucleic acid, wherein each said at least one extendable signal-generating nucleic acid further comprises at least one self-complementary unit, wherein each said self-complementary unit comprises a first sequence element and a second sequence element, and wherein said first and said second nucleotide sequence elements are complementary; and (3) one or more linkers that connect said analyte reactive moiety to said at least one signal-generating nucleic acid; (b) extending said at least one extendable signal-generating nucleic acid in a reaction mixture comprising said probe/analyte complex, wherein said extendable signal-generating nucleic acid serves as its own template, wherein said extension comprises two or more cycles of extension, and wherein said extendable signal-generating nucleic acid is extended in each of said two or more cycles; and (c) detecting the presence or absence of said extended signal-generating nucleic acid, wherein presence of said extended signal-generating nucleic acid correlates with the presence of said analyte.