Direct detection of rna mediated by reverse transcriptase lacking rnase h function

Abstract From the Canadian patent

Disclosed is a method of detecting RNA molecules of interest in which reverse transcription primers unique to the RNA molecule of interest are used for reverse transcribing the RNA with a reverse transcriptase lacking RNAse H function and the resulting RNA/DNA hybrid is detected with an antibody specific for RNA/DNA hybrids. This method can be used to detect the presence of one or many specific RNA molecules which may be present in a sample including RNA from different organisms (such as viruses bacteria, fungi, plants, and animals), or RNA indicative of an infection a disease state, or , predisposition to a disease in an animal. The specificity of detection is increased relative to …