Patent ID: 8642268

Claim:
A composition comprising: a TSU promoter oligonucleotide that includes a 5′ promoter sequence, an internal first universal sequence (U1), and a 3′ first target specific sequence (TS1) that binds specifically to a target sequence contained in a target nucleic acid, wherein the TSU promoter oligonucleotide is a TSU promoter primer that has a 3′ terminus that is capable of being extended by a polymerase, or is a TSU promoter provider oligonucleotide that has a blocked 3′ terminus that is incapable of being extended by a polymerase, directly or indirectly joined to, a TSU non-promoter primer oligonucleotide made up of a 5′ second universal sequence (U2) and a 3′ second target specific sequence (TS2) which is different from the TS1, wherein the TSU promoter oligonucleotide is joined to the TSU non-promoter primer via: a covalent linkage that is a polynucleotide linker sequence, a non-nucleotide abasic linker compound or a linker containing both nucleotide and non-nucleotide residues; a hybridization complex between the 5′ promoter sequence and a sequence on the TSU non-promoter primer that is complementary to the 5′ promoter sequence; or a hybridization complex that includes an S-oligonucleotide that contains a first sequence complementary to a sequence in the TSU promoter oligonucleotide and a second sequence complementary to a sequence in the TSU non-promoter primer oligonucleotide.