The invention relates to a kit and a method for determining the sequence and / or quantity of a ribonucleic acid in a composition, comprising the steps of: . i. providing a composition comprising one or more ribonucleic acids molecules (
RNA), . ii. hybridizing to said one or more RNAs, one or more two-part
nucleic acid hybridization probes, wherein each probe comprises, . a. a first
nucleic acid molecule with a 3'-
tail wherein said
tail does not hybridize to an
RNA in the composition, . b. a second
nucleic acid molecule with a 5'-
tail wherein said tail does not hybridize to an
RNA in the composition, . c. wherein said first and said second nucleic acid molecules when and if hybridized to their target RNA lie on one
single stranded RNA molecule separated from each other by between 2 and 1000 nucleotides, . iii. covalently linking the hybridized 5'-tail of said first
nucleic acid molecule to the hybridized 3'-tail of said second nucleic acid, wherein the linking is done by means of reverse transcription and subsequent
ligation, . binding the RNA-
DNA hybrids to duplex-specific antibodies, . iv. amplifying the linked molecules with primers that are specific for said first 3'-tail of said first
nucleic acid molecule and said second 5'-tail of said second
nucleic acid molecule and, . v. sequencing the amplification products by means of next generation sequencing. . The kit comprises primers, antibodies and ligase or
reverse transcriptase.