“…Upon the hybridization to target DNA, the probes become circularized by enzymatic ligation, while if there is no target DNA present, the padlock probes remain linear. Padlock probes have previously been used for genotyping (9,13), gene copy number (23), expression analysis (14), target sequencing (5), and mRNA splicing (3), as well as for detection of bacteria and other infectious pathogens (1,8,15). Only the circularized padlock probes are then amplified by the exponential rolling-circle amplification (RCA)-based C2CA reaction (2,4).…”