US Patent 9809847 Methods and compositions for detecting polynucleotides and fragments thereof

Disclosed herein are compositions and methods for the processing, amplification and detection of polynucleotides using target-specific oligonucleotides (TSOs). Hybridization of TSOs to target polynucleotides guides target processing into and purification of small target fragments that then can be amplified and detected with high sensitivity and reproducibility. The method is specifically beneficial for highly degraded polynucleotides found in biological samples.