Method for detecting West Nile Virus nucleic acids in the 3′ non-coding region

1. A method of determining the presence of a WNV (West Nile Virus) nucleic acid in a sample, said method comprising the steps of:

(a) synthesizing a double-stranded amplification product in vitro, wherein the double-stranded WNV sequence at one terminus of said double-stranded amplification product is SEQ ID NO: 74 base-paired to the complement thereof; and

(b) determining that said amplification product has formed as an indication of the presence of said WNV nucleic acid in said sample.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the synthesizing step comprises synthesizing in an in vitro nucleic acid amplification reaction that comprises reverse transcribing RNA to produce cDNA.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the synthesizing step comprises synthesizing in an in vitro nucleic acid amplification reaction that comprises extending with a DNA polymerase each of a pair of primers.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the synthesizing step and the determining step are performed in a single reaction vessel.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the determining step comprises detecting an optical signal.

6. A method of detecting a WNV (West Nile Virus) nucleic acid sequence synthesized in vitro, comprising the steps of:

(a) synthesizing in an in vitro nucleic acid amplification reaction a double-stranded DNA amplification product; and

(b) detecting with an oligonucleotide probe the WNV nucleic acid sequence in a nucleic acid strand synthesized in the in vitro nucleic acid amplification reaction,

wherein the double-stranded WNV sequence at one terminus of the double-stranded DNA amplification product consists of SEQ ID NO: 74 base-paired to the complement thereof, and

wherein the complement of SEQ ID NO: 74 is a template for enzymatic synthesis of nucleic acid in said in vitro nucleic acid amplification reaction.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein the in vitro nucleic acid amplification reaction of the synthesizing step comprises a pair of primers.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein the detecting step comprises detecting the WNV nucleic acid sequence while the in vitro nucleic acid amplification reaction is occurring.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein the detecting step comprises detecting by fluorimetry.

10. The method of claim 6 , wherein the in vitro nucleic acid amplification reaction in the synthesizing step comprises a reverse transcriptase.