The present invention relates to a novel method for detecting a target polynucleotide having a target sequence, comprising (a) exposing the target polynucleotide to an initiating oligonucleotide; (b) extending the initiating oligonucleotide with an extended sequence complementary to the target sequence; (c) ligating the initiating oligonucleotide sequence with the extended sequence to form a circular oligonucleotide having a nicking endonuclease (NE) recognition/cutting sequence; (d) exposing the circular oligonucleotide to a DNA polymerase and a DNA synthesis primer to synthesize DNA having a NE recognition sequence; (e) exposing the synthesized DNA to a probe having the NE recognition/cutting sequence to form a double stranded DNA having a full NE site; (f) exposing the double stranded DNA to a nicking endonuclease (NE) to cleave the probe; and (g) detecting the cleaved probe. The presence of the cleaved probe indicates the presence of the target polynucleotide.