Disclosed is a nucleic acid amplification method which is based on a new
principle and enables to amplify a nucleic acid having a specific
nucleotide sequence in a simple manner, within a short time and with
efficiency. The nucleic acid amplification method comprises the steps of:
(a) conducting a DNA polymerase chain reaction by using, as a template,
DNA comprising a nucleotide sequence to be amplified and using a primer
pair having a nucleotide sequence complementary to the nucleotide
sequence to be amplified, thereby producing a linear DNA fragment; and
(b) conducting a chain-substituting DNA polymerase chain reaction in a
chaining manner by using cyclic single-stranded DNA comprising the same
nucleotide sequence as that of at least one of the primer pair as a
template and employing the 3'-terminus of the linear DNA fragment
produced in step (a) as the replication origin.