Amplification of nucleic acids

1. A method of performing a non-isothermal nucleic acid amplification reaction, the method comprising the steps of:

a) mixing a target sequence with one or more complementary single-stranded primers in conditions which permit a hybridization event in which the one or more primers hybridizes to the target, which hybridization event, directly or indirectly, leads to the formation of a duplex structure comprising two nicking sites disposed at or near opposite ends of the duplex; and performing an amplification process by;

b) using a nicking enzyme to cause a nick at each of said nicking sites in the strands of the duplex;

c) using a polymerase to extend the nicked strands so as to form newly synthesized nucleic acid, wherein extension with the polymerase recreates the nicking sites; and

d) repeating steps (b) and (c) as desired so as to cause the production of multiple copies of the newly synthesized nucleic acid;

wherein the temperature at which the method is performed is non-isothermal, and subject to shuttling, a plurality of times, between an upper temperature and a lower temperature during the amplification process of steps (b)-(d), and

wherein at the upper temperature, one of said polymerase or nicking enzyme is more active than the other of said enzymes, such that there is a disparity in the activity of the enzymes, and at the lower temperature the disparity in the activity of the enzymes is reduced or reversed.

2. The method according to claim 1 , wherein in step (a) the target comprises two complementary strands of nucleic acid, and the method uses forward and reverse primers which are each complementary to a respective strand of the target, such that the 3′ ends of the forward and reverse primers are oriented towards each other.

3. The method according to claim 1 , wherein steps (b)-(d) are performed substantially immediately after step (a), and wherein steps (a)-(d) are performed in the same reaction vessel or on the same solid support.

4. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising the step of detecting, directly or indirectly, the newly synthesized nucleic acid.

5. The method according to claim 4 , wherein said detecting step comprises the use of a molecular beacon or a fluorescent dye, a lateral flow labelled probe, or an enzyme which catalyzes an electrochemical reaction.

6. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the amount of newly synthesized nucleic acid is quantified or measured during the performance of the amplification reaction.

7. The method according to claim 6 , wherein the amount of newly synthesized nucleic acid is used to determine the amount and/or concentration of the target sequence in a quantitative manner.

8. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the upper temperature relatively favors the activity of the polymerase.

9. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the upper temperature relatively favors the activity of the nicking enzyme.

10. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the optimum temperature of the polymerase differs from the optimum temperature of the nicking enzyme by an amount in the range 10-30° C.

11. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the upper temperature is in the range 50-64° C.

12. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the lower temperature is in the range 20.0-58.5° C.

13. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the temperature shuttling is performed continuously for a plurality of shuttles and over a period of at least two minutes.

14. The method according to claim 1 , wherein each of the plurality of shuttles is substantially identical.

15. The method according to claim 1 , wherein each of the plurality of temperature shuttles has a duration in the range 5-60 seconds.

16. The method according to claim 1 , wherein each of the plurality of temperature shuttles has a dwell time at the upper temperature in the range 1-10 seconds.

17. The method according to claim 1 , wherein each of the plurality of temperature shuttles has a dwell time at the lower temperature in the range 2-40 seconds.

18. The method according to claim 1 , wherein each of the plurality of temperature shuttles has a transition time between the lower temperature and the upper temperature in the range 0.5-10 seconds.

19. The method according to claim 1 , wherein step (a) is preceded by performing a reverse transcription step, comprising contacting an RNA analyte of interest with a reverse transcriptase so as to form a DNA transcript of the RNA analyte of interest, said DNA transcript comprising the target sequence.

20. The method according to claim 19 , further comprising the step of making double-stranded DNA from the DNA transcript.

21. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising a pre-amplification or enrichment step.

22. The method according to claim 1 , wherein at least one of the one or more primers comprises a modified nucleotide.

23. The method according to claim 22 , wherein at least one of the one or more primers comprises a 2′-modified nucleotide.

24. The method according to claim 23 , wherein at least one of the one or more primers comprises up to seven 2′-O-methyl modified nucleotides.

25. The method according to claim 1 , wherein one or more primers comprises a self-complementary portion forming a hairpin structure comprising 5 to 10 base pairs.

26. A method of determining the amount and/or concentration of a target polynucleotide in a sample, the method comprising the steps of: performing the amplification reaction of claim 1 to amplify the target polynucleotide in the sample; and detecting, in a quantitative manner, the direct or indirect product(s) of the amplification reaction, so as to allow a determination of the amount and/or concentration of the target polynucleotide in the sample.