Methods for amplification of nucleic acids utilizing hairpin loop or duplex primers

A method of amplifying a target nucleic acid, said method comprising the steps of:

• A. annealing a first duplex primer to a target nucleic acid in a mixture comprising said first duplex primer and said target nucleic acid wherein said first duplex primer comprises a first strand and a second strand, wherein said first strand having a random nucleotide sequence of about 6 to about 9 nucleotides in length on the 3′-terminus and a first tag sequence on its 5′-terminus and said second strand having a sequence substantially complementary to a portion of said tag sequence of said first strand, extending said duplex primer by a polymerase to produce a first duplex nucleic acid containing a first nucleic acid having a double stranded tag sequence and target nucleic acid, and optionally removing said first nucleic acid from said target nucleic acid;
• B. annealing a second duplex primer to said first nucleic acid wherein said second duplex primer comprises a third strand and a fourth strand, wherein said third strand having a random nucleotide sequence of about 6 to about 9 nucleotides in length on the 3′-terminus and a second tag sequence on its 5′-terminus and said fourth strand having a sequence substantially complementary to a portion of said tag sequence of said third strand, extending said duplex primer by a polymerase to produce a second duplex containing said first nucleic acid and said second nucleic acid having a second tag sequence on the 5′-terminus and the complement to the first tag sequence on the 3′-terminus, and optionally removing said second nucleic acid from said first nucleic acid;
• C. annealing a first single stranded primer to said second nucleic acid wherein said first single stranded primer comprises a sequence substantially the same as said first tag sequence, extending said first single stranded primer by a polymerase to produce a third nucleic acid duplex containing said second nucleic acid and a third nucleic acid having said first tag sequence on the 5′-terminus and the complement to said second tag sequence on the 3′-terminus, removing said second nucleic acid from the third nucleic acid, annealing the said first single stranded primer to said second nucleic acid and a second single stranded primer to the third nucleic acid wherein said second single stranded primer comprises a sequence substantially the same as said second tag, extending said first and second single stranded primer to create additional copies of said second and said third nucleic acids, optionally removing the second nucleic acid from the third nucleic acid and repeating this cycle of annealing and extending the first and second primers and optionally removing the second strand from the third strand to further amplify said target nucleic acid.