Patent ID: 7579153

Claim:
A method of replicating a polynucleotide sequence, the method comprising the steps of: providing a double stranded DNA having a hairpin at one end, the polynucleotide sequence at the other end, and disposed therebetween a promoter sequence oriented so that synthesis by an RNA polymerase recognizing the promoter sequence proceeds in the direction of the hairpin; transcribing the double stranded DNA with an RNA polymerase that recognizes the promoter sequence to form an RNA transcript comprising copies of the promoter sequence and the polynucleotide sequence; generating a complementary DNA from the RNA transcript; displacing a 5' end of the RNA transcript from the complementary DNA so that the hairpin is reconstituted; and extending the hairpin to generate double stranded DNA, wherein the generated double stranded DNA contains the reconstituted hairpin, a reconstituted promoter sequence and the polynucleotide sequence, thereby replicating the polynucleotide sequence.