Composition, kits and methods for the detection of point mutations and SNPs

1. A set of primers for detecting, by loop mediated isothermal amplification, the presence of a point mutation in a target nucleic acid molecule in a background of wild type nucleic acid molecules, the set of primers comprising:

i. a first outer primer F3 and a second outer primer B3;

ii. a first inner primer FIP and a second inner primer BIP,

wherein FIP comprises a 3′ nucleic acid sequence F2 and a 5′ nucleic acid sequence F1c and BIP comprises a 3′ nucleic acid sequence B2 and a 5′ nucleic acid sequence B1c, wherein F1c is able to recognize and hybridize to a region of the target nucleic acid molecule designated as F1 and wherein B1c is able to recognize and hybridize to a region of the target nucleic acid molecule designated as B1, and wherein F1 and B1 are different regions located on opposite strands of the target nucleic acid molecule,

wherein F2 is complementary to a region of the target nucleic acid molecule designated as F2c and B2 is complementary to a region of the target nucleic acid molecule designated as B2c,

wherein F2c and B2c are non-overlapping regions located on opposite strands of the target nucleic acid molecule,

wherein either B2c is downstream of the point mutation or F2c is upstream of the point mutation, and wherein

if B2c is downstream of the point mutation, then said point mutation is located in the F2c sequence or between the F2c sequence and the F1c sequence, or

if F2c is upstream of the point mutation, then said point mutation is located in the B2c sequence or between the B2c sequence and the B1c sequence;

iii. a stem-loop mutant extensible primer comprising:

a central loop sequence complementary to a region of a target nucleic acid molecule comprising the point mutation, and

a 5′ end sequence and a 3′ end sequence which are complementary to each other such as to form a stem upon intramolecular hybridization,

the hybridization affinity of the central loop sequence to the region of the target nucleic acid molecule comprising the point mutation being higher than the intramolecular hybridization affinity of the 5′ sequence to the 3′ sequence, and

a non-extensible moiety capable of selectively hybridizing to the wild type nucleic acid molecules and of blocking amplification thereof.

2. The set of primers of claim 1 , wherein each of the 5′ end sequence and the 3′ end sequence of the stem-loop mutant extensible primer is at least 3 nucleotides in length.

3. The set of primers of claim 1 , further comprising a non extensible moiety capable of hybridizing to the wild type nucleic acid molecules.

4. The set of primers of claim 3 , wherein the non extensible moiety is a Peptide Nucleic Acid (PNA).

5. The set of primers of claim 4 , wherein the PNA is at least 10 bases in length.

6. The set of primers of claim 1 , wherein the nonextensible moiety is a stem-loop 3′ end modified wild type non-extensible primer, comprising:

a central loop sequence complementary to a region of the wild type nucleic acid molecules comprising the nucleic acid position of the point mutation to be detected;

a 5′ end sequence and a 3′ end sequence which are complementary to each other such as to form a stem upon intramolecular hybridization,

the hybridization affinity of the central loop sequence to the region of the wild type nucleic acid molecules comprising the nucleic acid position of the point mutation to be detected being higher than the intramolecular hybridization affinity of the 5′ end sequence to the 3′ end sequence.

7. The set of primers of claim 1 , wherein the first outer primer F3 comprises SEQ ID NO:3, the second outer primer B3 comprises SEQ ID NO:4, the first inner primer FIP comprises SEQ ID NO:5, the second inner primer BIP comprises SEQ ID NO:6 and the stem-loop mutant extensible primer comprises SEQ ID NO:8.

8. The set of primers of claim 7 , further comprising a non extensible moiety which is a PNA comprising the following base sequence:

(SEQ ID NO: 9)

NH2-GAGTATGTGTCTGTGGA-COOH.

9. A kit for detecting, by loop mediated isothermal amplification, the presence of a point mutation in a target nucleic acid molecule, the kit comprising the set of primers of claim 1 and a DNA polymerase having strand displacement activity.

10. The kit of claim 9 , wherein the DNA polymerase is selected from the group consisting of Bst large fragment polymerase, Bca (exo-), Vent, Vent (exo-), Deep Vent, Deep Vent (exo-), (I)29 phage, MS-2 phage, Z-Taq, KOD, Klenow fragment and any combination thereof.

11. The kit of claim 9 , further comprising one or more calibrators, wherein said one or more calibrators comprise a predetermined percentage of wild type nucleic acid molecules.