A dumbbell-like complex formation for DNA target assay

A simple and highly sensitive test for the detection of nucleic acid targets is described. It is based upon complex formation between a small-diameter magnetic particle and a larger and nonmagnetic particle through a hybridization reaction, what we have called a dumbbell-like complex. During the different steps, nonreacting nonmagnetic conjugates were eliminated by magnetic separation. At the end of the process, dumbbell complex number was estimated by counting under a microscope. Compared to the already described two-particle tests, our model was able to reach higher sensitivities, with a threshold typically in the amol/mL range (10(6) copies of HIV DNA/mL) without the need for complex instrumentation or genomic amplification reactions.