Detection of nucleic acids by type-specific hybrid capture method

1. A method of detecting a target nucleic acid consisting essentially of:

a) hybridizing a single-stranded or partially single-stranded target nucleic acid to a capture sequence probe and a signal sequence probe, wherein the capture sequence probe and the signal sequence probe hybridize to non-overlapping regions within the target nucleic acid and not to each other, wherein said hybridization forms an RNA/DNA hybrid between said signal sequence probe and the target nucleic acid; and

b) adding a blocker probe to the hybridization reaction, wherein said blocker probe hybridizes to excess non-hybridized capture sequence probes; and

c) detecting the RNA/DNA hybrid by binding an antibody that recognizes the RNA/DNA hybrid to said hybrid, wherein said antibody is detectably labeled.

2. The method of claim 1 , further consisting essentially of binding the hybrid formed in step a) to a solid phase to form a bound hybrid.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the signal sequence probe is single-stranded.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the capture sequence probe is modified with at least one ligand.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the capture sequence probe is biotinylated.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein the capture sequence probe is linear having a 5′ and a 3′ end, wherein both the 5′ and the 3′ ends are biotinylated.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the capture sequence probe and the signal sequence probe hybridize to regions of the target nucleic acid, wherein the regions are less than 3 kilobases apart.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the capture sequence probe and the signal sequence probe hybridize to regions of the target nucleic acid, wherein the regions are less than 500 bases apart.

9. The method of claim 1 , further consisting essentially of the step of forming single-stranded target nucleic acid prior to the hybridization step.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein hybridizations of the capture sequence probe and the signal sequence probe to the target nucleic acid are performed sequentially.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein the hybrid formed in step a) is bound onto a solid phase forming a bound hybrid.

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein the bound hybrid is formed at room temperature.

13. The method of claim 11 , wherein the solid phase is coated with streptavidin.

14. The method of claim 11 , wherein the solid phase is a microplate.

15. The method of claim 1 , wherein the antibody is labeled with alkaline-phosphatase.

16. The method of claim 1 , wherein the blocker probes are added to the hybridization reaction following the hybridization of the capture sequence probes to the target nucleic acid.

17. The method of claim 1 , wherein the blocker probe has a lower melting temperature than that of the capture sequence probe.

18. A method of detecting a target nucleic acid consisting essentially of:

a) hybridizing a single stranded or partially single-stranded target nucleic acid to a capture sequence probe and a signal sequence probe, wherein the capture sequence probe and the signal sequence probe hybridize to non-overlapping regions within the target nucleic acid and not to each other, wherein the signal sequence probe comprises a DNA/RNA hybrid region, wherein said hybridization forms a complex; and

b) adding a blocker probe after the hybridization reaction, wherein said blocker probe hybridizes to excess non-hybridized capture sequence probes; and

c) detecting said complex.

19. The method of claim 18 wherein the signal sequence probe comprises a sequence at least 40 bases in length.

20. The method of claim 18 wherein the capture sequence probe comprises a sequence at least 6 bases in length.

21. The method of claim 20 wherein the capture sequence probe is immobilized on a solid phase.

22. The method of claim 18 wherein said complex is detected by binding an antibody that recognizes the DNA/RNA hybrid region to said region, wherein the antibody is detectably labeled.

23. The method of claim 18 wherein the capture sequence is modified with at least one ligand.

24. The method of claim 23 wherein the ligand is biotin.

25. The method of claim 24 , wherein the capture sequence probe is linear having a 5′ and 3′ end, wherein both the 5′ and 3′ ends are biotinylated.

26. The method of claim 18 , wherein the blocker probes comprise a length of 4-10 base pairs shorter than the length of the capture sequence probe.

27. The method of claim 1 , wherein said probes comprise a nucleic acid probe consisting of a sequence selected from the group consisting of SEQ ID NO: 1 through SEQ ID NO: 160.

28. A method of detecting a target nucleic acid comprising:

a) hybridizing a single-stranded or partially single-stranded target nucleic acid to a capture sequence probe and a signal sequence probe to form double-stranded hybrids between said probes and the target nucleic acid; and

b) adding a blocker probe to the hybridization reaction, wherein said blocker probe hybridizes to excess non-hybridized capture sequence probes; and

c) binding the hybrid to a solid phase forming a bound hybrid; and

d) detecting the bound hybrid, wherein the capture sequence probe and the signal sequence probe hybridize to non-overlapping regions within the target nucleic acid and not to each other,

wherein step c) is carried out at about 20° C. to about 90° C.

29. The method of claim 28 , wherein hybridization of the capture sequence probe and the signal sequence probe to the target nucleic acid are performed sequentially.

30. The method of claim 28 , wherein step a) and step c) are performed sequentially.

31. The method of claim 28 , wherein the signal sequence probe is single-stranded.

32. The method of claim 28 , wherein the capture sequence probe is modified with at least one ligand.

33. The method of claim 28 , wherein the ligand is biotin.

34. The method of claim 33 , wherein the capture sequence probe is linear having a 5′ and 3′ end, wherein both the 5′ and the 3′ ends are biotinylated.

35. The method of claim 28 , wherein the capture sequence probe and the signal sequence probe hybridize to regions of the target nucleic acid, wherein the regions are less than 3 kilobases apart.

36. The method of claim 28 , wherein the capture sequence probe and the signal sequence probe hybridize to regions of the target nucleic acid, wherein the regions are less than 500 bases apart.

37. The method of claim 28 , wherein the capture sequence probe is a fusion of two or more sequences complementary to different regions of the target nucleic acid or to different target molecules.

38. The method of claim 28 , wherein the double-stranded hybrid formed is a DNA/RNA hybrid.

39. The method of claim 28 , further comprising the step of forming single-stranded DNA prior to the hybridization step.

40. The method of claim 28 , wherein hybridization of the capture sequence probe and the signal sequence probe to the target nucleic acid are performed simultaneously.

41. The method of claim 28 , wherein step a) and step c) are performed simultaneously.

42. The method of claim 29 , wherein the blocker probe has lower melting temperature than that of the capture sequence probe.

43. The method of claim 29 , wherein the solid phase is coated with streptavidin.

44. The method of claim 29 , wherein the solid phase is a microplate.

45. The method of claim 28 , wherein the capture sequence probe comprises at least 6 bases in length.

46. The method of claim 28 , wherein the bound hybrid is detected using an antibody that recognizes a hybrid.

47. The method of claim 46 , wherein the hybrid is a DNA/RNA-hybrid.

48. The method of claim 46 , wherein the antibody that recognizes a DNA/RNA hybrid is labeled with alkaline-phosphatase.

49. The method according to claim 28 , wherein the signal sequence probe comprises a deleted capture sequence probe region and is complementary to the target nucleic acid.

50. The method according to claim 28 , wherein the target nucleic acid is a single nucleotide polymorphism.

51. The method according to claim 50 , wherein the specificity of binding the hybrid to a solid phase is modulated by temperatures of greater than room temperature.

52. The method according to claim 50 , wherein the specificity of binding the hybrid to a solid phase is modulated by the addition of blocker probes.

53. The method according to claim 50 , wherein the specificity of binding the hybrid to a solid phase is modulated by temperatures of greater than room temperature and the addition of blocker probes.

54. The method of claim 1 wherein the target nucleic acid is a deoxyribonucleic acid.

55. The method of claim 18 wherein the target nucleic acid is a deoxyribonucleic acid.

56. The method of claim 28 wherein the target nucleic acid is a deoxyribonucleic acid.

57. The method of claim 2 wherein the step of forming a bound hybrid is carried out at about 20° C. to about 90° C.

58. The method of claim 1 , wherein the signal sequence probe comprises

a sequence capable of hybridizing to the 5′ side of a target sequence to which a capture sequence probe is capable of hybridizing and

a sequence capable of hybridizing to the 3′ side of a target sequence to which a capture sequence probe is capable of hybridizing.

59. The method of claim 18 , wherein the signal sequence probe comprises

a sequence capable of hybridizing to the 5′ side of a target sequence to which a capture sequence probe is capable of hybridizing and

a sequence capable of hybridizing to the 3′ side of a target sequence to which a capture sequence probe is capable of hybridizing.

60. The method of claim 28 , wherein the signal sequence probe comprises

a sequence capable of hybridizing to the 5′ side of a target sequence to which a capture sequence probe is capable of hybridizing and

a sequence capable of hybridizing to the 3′ side of a target sequence to which a capture sequence probe is capable of hybridizing.