Patent Document ID: 6020138
Application ID: 09241979
Patent Flag: 1

Claim One:
1. A method for detecting a nucleic acid analyte comprising: a) providing a reaction mixture comprising the nucleic acid analyte in single stranded form, a primer having at least 15 bases which is complementary to a portion of the analyte, and a plurality of oligonucleotide 5'-monophosphates wherein each oligonucleotide 5'-monophosphate consists of not more than 10 bases and wherein at least some of the oligonucleotide 5'-monophosphates are labeled; b) hybridizing the primer with the analyte under conditions which permit stable hybridization of the primer but not stable hybridization of the oligonucleotide 5'-monophosphates to form a primer-analyte hybrid; c) ligating more than one of the plurality of the oligonucleotide 5'-monophosphates in a contiguous manner onto the primer in one continuous process under conditions which permit stable hybridization of the primer but not stable hybridization of the oligonucleotide 5'-monophosphates, wherein at least one labeled oligonucleotide 5'-monophosphate is ligated to synthesize a labeled complementary nucleic acid strand and wherein the ligation of oligonucleotide 5'-monophosphates only occurs in the presence of the hybridized primer; d) removing all nonligated oligonucleotide 5'-monophosphates; and e) detecting the labeled nucleic acid of step c as indicative of the presence of the nucleic acid analyte.