Patent ID: 8551766

Claim:
A kit for the detection of a target nucleic acid, wherein the kit comprises: a capture probe having the structure 5′-X.sub.n a′ b′ c′ Y.sub.n-3′, wherein X and Y each comprise nucleic acid sequences that can form a double stranded portion of a hairpin structure and wherein one of X or Y is a capture sequence further comprising a first member of a specific binding pair and the other of X or Y is a terminal sequence of the hairpin capture probe, and wherein a′ b′ c′ comprises a target-complementary sequence that hybridizes specifically to a target sequence in the target nucleic acid and is flanked by X and Y to thereby form a loop portion of the hairpin structure; and a detection probe that hybridizes specifically to a target sequence that overlaps or is the same as the target sequence hybridized by the target-complementary sequence of the capture probe.