Methods for degrading contaminant nucleic acid. The methods use combinations of metal ions and peroxide ions to produce a variety of oxidative species that degrade nucleic acid. Methods of the invention are useful for decontaminating laboratory equipment or solutions. After the equipment or solutions have been decontaminated, the metal ion and peroxide ion solution can be deactivated by raising the temperature to dissociate the peroxide or by binding the metal ions, e.g., with a chelating agent.

A method for identifying a target organism includes extracting a nucleic acid from a sample to form an extracted nucleic acid, amplifying the extracted nucleic acid to form a nucleic acid amplicon, tagging the nucleic acid amplicon with a capture probe and a detector probe to form a detector probe-nucleic acid amplicon-capture probe complex, and performing a detection assay on the detector probe-nucleic acid amplicon-capture probe complex to identify whether the target organism is present in the sample.

A method for identifying a target organism includes extracting a nucleic acid from a sample to form an extracted nucleic acid, amplifying the extracted nucleic acid to form a nucleic acid amplicon, tagging the nucleic acid amplicon with a capture probe and a detector probe to form a detector probe-nucleic acid amplicon-capture probe complex, and performing a detection assay on the detector probe-nucleic acid amplicon-capture probe complex to identify whether the target organism is present in the sample.

The invention relates to a method for the detection of natural or modified nucleic acids by their sequence specific hybridization with charge-modified oligonucleotide probes having charge-modifying groups attached to their backbones. The charge-modifying groups partially or fully neutralize the net negative charge of the backbone of the oligonucleotide probes or render them with a net positive charge. The charge-modified oligonucleotide probes may or may not be labeled, for example, with fluorescent, visible or near-infrared dye, with radioactive or stable isotopes, or with high specific affinity binding groups. The charge-modified oligonucleotide probes facilitate the separation of their hybrids with the targeted nucleic acids from the unhybridized probes or from any other components of the analyzed sample. They also allow for the modification and optimization of the properties of the hybrids with the targeted nucleic acids, such as melting temperature, chromatographic properties and off-target specificity.

The invention relates to a method for the detection of natural or modified nucleic acids by their sequence specific hybridization with charge-modified oligonucleotide probes having charge-modifying groups attached to their backbones. The charge-modifying groups partially or fully neutralize the net negative charge of the backbone of the oligonucleotide probes or render them with a net positive charge. The charge-modified oligonucleotide probes may or may not be labeled, for example, with fluorescent, visible or near-infrared dye, with radioactive or stable isotopes, or with high specific affinity binding groups. The charge-modified oligonucleotide probes facilitate the separation of their hybrids with the targeted nucleic acids from the unhybridized probes or from any other components of the analyzed sample. They also allow for the modification and optimization of the properties of the hybrids with the targeted nucleic acids, such as melting temperature, chromatographic properties and off-target specificity.

Very simple, highly sensitive detection or quantification of target nucleic acids of interest has been achieved by: hybridizing mask oligonucleotides to regions in a single-stranded region of a nucleic acid to be assayed between which a region to be hybridized by an oligonucleotide probe is positioned, thereby opening the probe-hybridizing region and keeping the single-stranded region of the target nucleic acid stable, and then subjecting this nucleic acid having the single-stranded region to nucleic acid chromatography.

Very simple, highly sensitive detection or quantification of target nucleic acids of interest has been achieved by: hybridizing mask oligonucleotides to regions in a single-stranded region of a nucleic acid to be assayed between which a region to be hybridized by an oligonucleotide probe is positioned, thereby opening the probe-hybridizing region and keeping the single-stranded region of the target nucleic acid stable, and then subjecting this nucleic acid having the single-stranded region to nucleic acid chromatography.

The present invention provides, among other things, methods of quantitating mRNA capping efficiency, particularly for mRNA synthesized in vitro. In some embodiments, the methods comprise chromatographic methods of quantifying capping efficiency and methylation status of the caps.

The present invention provides, among other things, methods of quantitating mRNA capping efficiency, particularly for mRNA synthesized in vitro. In some embodiments, the methods comprise chromatographic methods of quantifying capping efficiency and methylation status of the caps.

The present invention refers to a method for isolating a nucleic acid, said method comprising: a) provision of a fluid test sample, which comprises i) a biological sample, ii) a chaotropic agent with a concentration of at least 1 M in the fluid test sample, and iii) a detergent, b) contacting said fluid test sample with a medium for size-exclusion chromatography, and c) purifying the nucleic acid with size- exclusion chromatography. The present invention further relates to the use of any of the methods according to the present invention for detecting a viral infection as well as to a method for detecting a viral infection. The present invention further relates to a kit-of-parts comprising a medium for size- exclusion and a size-exclusion chromatography device for isolating the nucleic acid of the fluid test sample.