Patent ID: 8753810

Claim:
A method for bisulfite treatment of a nucleic acid, comprising: a. contacting a nucleic acid with a bisulfite reagent under conditions suitable to produce a bisulfite-treated sulfonated nucleic acid sample, wherein unmethylated cytosines of the nucleic acid are sulfonated, sulfonated and deaminated, or comprise a mixture of both forms, and wherein said sulfonated, or sulfonated and deaminated uracil has not been significantly desulfonated; b. contacting the bisulfite-treated sulfonated nucleic acid sample with at least one component required for a polymerase-mediated amplification reaction or an amplification-based detection assay before desulfonating the sample, wherein the component is a heat stable polymerase; and c. desulfonating the bisulfite-treated sulfonated nucleic acid sample in the presence of the polymerase by a brief incubation at an increased temperature.