| abstract |
A method for quantitative and qualitative analysis of a nucleic acid analyte in a sample suspected to contain the nucleic acid analyte first combines the sample with a control nucleic acid, and two primer pairs, a first primer pair effective to amplify a conserved region of the nucleic acid analyte if present in the sample to produce a conserved fragment having a first length and to amplify the control nucleic acid to produce a control fragment having a second length different from the first length, and a second primer pair effective to amplify a second region of the nucleic acid analyte to produce a sequencing fragment. One member of the first primer pair is labeled with a detectable label, and one member of the second primer pair may be labeled with a label such as biotin effective to permit capture of the primer. The combined mixture is then processed to amplify the sample and control nucleic acid using the first and second primer pairs to produce an amplification product mixture containing conserved fragments, sequencing fragments and control fragments when the nucleic acid analyte is present in the sample, and only control fragment when the nucleic acid analyte is not present in the sample. This product mixture is analyzed to determine the relative amounts of conserved fragments and control fragments in the amplification product mixture to quantify the amount of nucleic acid analyte in the sample and used as a starting point for a reaction to determine the sequence of the sequencing fragment. |