DRIED COMPOSITIONS CONTAINING FLAP ENDONUCLEASE

1 . A method for preparing a dried composition for use in performing a nucleic acid-based assay, the method comprising:

(a) providing a first aqueous solution comprising a flap endonuclease or a first DNA polymerase and glycerol;

(b) dialyzing the aqueous solution against a dialysis composition comprising a first organic buffer, a first bulking agent, chloride ions, and a chelating agent, wherein the aqueous dialysis composition does not contain glycerol or magnesium ions, thereby replacing the glycerol with the first organic buffer and forming a substantially glycerol-free aqueous solution;

(c) combining the substantially glycerol-free aqueous solution with one or more of: dNTPs, one or more oligonucleotides, a second organic buffer, a second bulking agent, a second DNA polymerase, and water to form a pre-lyophilization formulation containing substantially no glycerol and less than 1 mM magnesium ions;

(d) drying the pre-lyophilization formulation to form the dried composition.

2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the flap endonuclease is a Cleavase® enzyme.

3 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the first DNA polymerase comprises a Taq polymerase.

4 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the first organic buffer is 3-(N-morpholino)propanesulfonic acid (MOPS) buffer or tris(hydroxymethyl)aminomethane (Tris) buffer.

5 . The method of claim 4 , wherein the Tris buffer is present at a concentration of about 10 mM to about 30 mM or about 50 mM.

6 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the first bulking agent is trehalose.

7 . The method of claim 6 , wherein the bulking agent is present at a concentration of about 100 mM to 300 mM or about 200 mM.

8 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the chloride ions are KCl.

9 . The method of claim 8 , wherein the KCl is present at a concentration of about 40 mM to about to 60 mM or about 50 mM.

10 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the chelating agent is EDTA.

11 . The method of claim 10 , wherein the EDTA is present at a concentration of about from 0.05 to 0.2 mM or about 0.1 mM.

12 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the aqueous dialysis composition comprises about 20 mM Tris buffer (pH 8.0), about 200 mM trehalose, about 50 mM KCl, and about 0.1 mM EDTA.

13 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the dialyzed aqueous solution contains about 0.35% (w/v) or less glycerol, about 0.2% (w/v) or less glycerol, about 0.1% (w/v) or less glycerol, or about 0.01% (w/v) or less glycerol.

14 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the second DNA polymerase comprises a hot-start polymerase, a recombinant Taq DNA polymerase, or a reverse transcriptase.

15 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the at least one oligonucleotide comprises one or more of: an invader probe, a signalling probe, a FRET probe, and a target capture probe.

16 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the second bulking agent comprises trehalose.

17 . The method of claim 16 , wherein the pre-lyophilization formulation comprises trehalose at a concentration of about 0.2 M to about 0.5 M.

18 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the pre-lyophilization formulation comprises less than 0.196 μg/μL of potassium ions.

19 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the pre-lyophilization formulation comprises less than 0.1 mM magnesium ions.

20 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the second organic buffer comprises MOPS or Tris.

21 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the pre-lyophilization formulation further comprises: bovine serum albumin and/or alpha cyclodextrin.

22 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the pre-lyophilization formulation comprises: 0.36 units/μL Taq DNA polymerase, 0.5 units/μL reverse transcriptase, 0.2 unites/μL RNasin, 0.25 mM dATP, 0.25 mM dGTP, 0.25 mM dTTP, 0.25 mM dCTP, 0.5 mM UTP, 7 μM oligonucleotides, about 2.7 mM Na + and about 0.035 mM K + .

23 . The method of claim 1 , wherein drying comprises dehydrating, desiccating, lyophilizing, or spray-drying.