DNA diagnostics based on mass spectrometry

1. A method for detecting the presence or absence of a target nucleic acid in a biological sample using RNA amplification, comprising:

a. amplifying a target nucleic acid, or portion thereof, using a primer comprising a sequence that is complementary to a polynucleotide sequence in the target nucleic acid, or a complement thereof, and a sequence that encodes an RNA polymerase promoter;

b. synthesizing RNA using an RNA polymerase that recognizes the promoter when the target nucleic acid is present; and

c. detecting the presence or absence of the resulting RNA using mass spectrometry thereby detecting the presence or absence of the target nucleic acid in the biological sample.

2. A process of detecting the presence or absence of a target nucleic acid, comprising the steps of:

a. incubating in a reaction mixture

i. an RNA polymerase

ii. nucleoside triphosphates, and

iii. a nucleic acid molecule comprising a sequence that is complementary to a polynucleotide sequence in the target nucleic acid, or a complement thereof, and a promoter for the RNA polymerase,

thereby producing an RNA comprising the polynucleotide sequence of the target nucleic acid, or a complement thereof when the target nucleic acid is present; and

b. detecting the presence or absence of the RNA by mass spectrometry, thereby detecting the presence or absence of the target nucleic acid.

3. The process of claim 2 , wherein the target nucleic acid is DNA and the RNA polymerase is DNA dependent RNA polymerase.

4. The process of claim 3 , further comprising, following step a) and prior to step b)

a. inactivating the RNA polymerase; and

b. digesting the DNA using RNAse-free DNAse I.

5. The process of claim 2 , further comprising:

a. hybridizing a detector oligonucleotide to the RNA, wherein the detector oligonucleotide is complementary to a portion of the polynucleotide sequence in the target nucleic acid, or complement thereof; and

b. removing unhybridized detector oligonucleotide; wherein, in step b), the presence or absence of the RNA is detected by detecting the presence or absence of hybridized detector oligonucleotide.

6. A method for detecting the presence or absence of a target nucleic acid, comprising:

a. amplifying the target nucleic acid, or portion thereof, using a primer comprising a sequence that is complementary to at least a portion of the polynucleotide sequence of the target nucleic acid, or a complement thereof, and a sequence that encodes an RNA polymerase promoter, thereby producing an amplified nucleic acid molecule comprising the polynucleotide sequence of the target nucleic acid, or complement thereof, and the RNA polymerase promoter;

b. incubating the amplified nucleic acid molecule with nucleoside triphosphates and an RNA polymerase that recognizes the promoter, thereby producing an RNA corresponding to the target nucleic acid when target nucleic acid is present; and

c. detecting the presence or absence of the RNA using mass spectrometry, thereby detecting the presence or absence of the target nucleic acid.

7. The process of claim 5 , wherein the detector oligonucleotide is a peptide nucleic acid.

8. The process of any one of claims 1 - 6 , wherein the RNA is immobilized to a solid support via a selectively cleavable linker.

9. The process of claim 1 , wherein the primer is a peptide nucleic acid.

10. The process of claim 6 , wherein the primer is a peptide nucleic acid.