scholarly journals Performance of a Multiplex Nested Polymerase Chain Reaction in Detecting 7 Pathogens Containing DNA in Their Genomes Associated With Congenital Infections

2019 ◽  
Vol 144 (1) ◽  
pp. 99-106
Author(s):  
Lidia Yamamoto ◽  
Antonio G. Amorim Filho ◽  
Joelma A. Queiroz ◽  
Mario H. B. de Carvalho ◽  
Jonatas C. Rodrigues ◽  
...  

Context.— Infections are the leading cause of perinatal and infant mortality in low-income and low-resource countries, which have a higher prevalence of infections. Definitive diagnosis of congenital and perinatal infections is largely dependent upon the results of laboratory tests. Objective.— To develop a multiplex nested polymerase chain reaction (PCR) technique for the simultaneous detection of 7 pathogens containing DNA in their genomes in suspected cases of congenital infection. Design.— Eligible participants were pregnant women with positive immunoglobulin M antibodies raised to one of the pathogens in the prenatal serologic screening, associated or not with fetal ultrasound abnormalities or positive fetal serology. Neonates whose mothers did not attend prenatal care were included when they presented with symptomatology and laboratory parameters suggestive of infection. The detection rate of the multiplex nested PCR was compared with maternal, fetal, and neonatal serology, as well as placental immunohistochemistry and noncommercial amplifications. Results.— Of 161 suspected cases, the multiplex nested PCR detected 60 (37.3%), whereas the tests available in hospital laboratories detected 13 of 60 (21.7%) of the cases detected by the multiplex nested PCR, demonstrating a 4.6 times higher detection rate for the multiplex nested PCR (Fisher exact test, P < .001). Positive amplifications were to Toxoplasma gondii (32 cases), cytomegalovirus (14 cases), parvovirus B19 (5 cases), and adenovirus (5 cases). In 4 cases, 2 pathogens were simultaneously detected. All types of biological matrices were suitable for amplification. Sequencing of multiplex nested PCR products confirmed the molecular findings. Conclusions.— The multiplex nested PCR significantly increased the number of diagnosed congenital infections. Given the scarcity of DNA recovered from amniotic fluid and some neonatal samples, this multiplex nested PCR allows the simultaneous detection of 7 pathogens associated with congenital infections in a reliable, faster, cost-effective, and more sensitive way.

Plant Disease ◽  
2003 ◽  
Vol 87 (12) ◽  
pp. 1487-1494 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Mercado-Blanco ◽  
D. Rodríguez-Jurado ◽  
S. Parrilla-Araujo ◽  
R. M. Jiménez-Díaz

Pathogen-free certified planting material and accurate detection of Verticillium dahliae pathotypes infecting the plant are key components of successful management of Verticillium wilt of olive. Use of a nested-polymerase chain reaction (PCR) procedure developed in earlier studies for in planta detection of the defoliating (D) and nondefoliating (ND) V. dahliae pathotypes resulted in ambiguous detection of the pathogen in some cases, due to heterologous amplification of the D-associated marker in ND-infected olive plants. In the present study, an improved procedure was developed that eliminates ambiguity and reduces time and cost for detection of D and ND V. dahliae in olive. The improved procedure is based on the simultaneous amplification of both an ND- and a new D-specific marker by means of duplex, nested PCR. The procedure was effective in the rapid and unequivocal detection of the D and ND V. dahliae in both artificially inoculated, own-rooted olive plants and naturally infected adult olive trees of different cultivar, age, and growing conditions. Furthermore, the duplex, nested-PCR procedure detected simultaneously the D and ND pathotypes in adult olive trees naturally infected by both pathotypes and in young olive plants that were double-inoculated with D and ND isolates under controlled conditions.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Birhanu Hadush Abera ◽  
Molla Michaelay ◽  
Habtamu Taddele ◽  
Nigus Abebe ◽  
Abrha Tesfay ◽  
...  

Abstract Background: Epizootic lymphangitis (EL), caused by Histoplasma capsulatum variety farciminosum (HCF) is a contagious chronic disease of equines characterized by development of nodular lesions in the lymph nodes, lymphatic vessels and skin. This disease is the most important diseases of equines in Ethiopia causing a significant economic loss, particularly cart pulling equines. Todate there is no sound diagnostic nor control measure implemented in the country. Furthermore, there is a shortage of data on the epidemiology of the disease in different regions of the country including northern Ethiopia. This study was conducted to investigate the epidemiology of EL in northern Ethiopia using the conventional methods and the nested polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Methods: A total of 191 cart-horses were enrolled and used as sources of pus and blood samples. The blood was used for the extraction of the DNA of HCF from buffy coat for nested PCR while the pus samples were cultured on Sabourauds Dextrose Agar for isolation. Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 21 was used for data analysis by applying logistic regression, receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve and Cohen’s kappa coefficient test. In addition, the level of agreement between the clinical examination and the nested PCR was evaluated. Results: Infection with HCF was confirmed in 44% (84/191) of the horses using nested PCR. Subclinical infection was observed in 18.18% (22/121) of the apparently healthy horses. Considering nested PCR as a gold standard, the sensitivity and specificity of the clinical examination were 74% and 95%, respectively while the area under the ROC curve (AUR) was 0.83 (95% confidence interval, 0.77, 0.896). Moreover, a moderate (k=0.675) agreement was observed between the nested PCR and clinical examination.Conclusions: The findings of the present study showed the wide spread occurrence of EL in northern Ethiopia and the advantage of the nested PCR in detecting of the infection of HCF even before the clinical symptoms are apparent.


2001 ◽  
Vol 22 (3) ◽  
pp. 151-158 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mario Menschikowski ◽  
Margot Vogel ◽  
Rolf Eckey ◽  
Gerd Dinnebier ◽  
Werner Jaross

In the present study a protocol of in situ reverse transcriptase‐nested polymerase chain reaction (in situ RT‐nested PCR) was examined based on the following modifications. (i) To exclude false positive signals caused by “DNA repair mechanisms” and “endogenous priming”, a two‐step PCR was applied after reverse transcription. The first step was performed in the presence of extrinsic primers and unlabeled nucleotides with a maximum of PCR cycles possible without destroying the cell morphology. The second step consisted of only one annealing/elongation reaction, the target sequence marked by addition of digoxigenin‐labeled nucleotides and intrinsic primers. (ii) In order to prevent amplifications of genomic DNA nested primer pairs were applied crossing intron sequences. (iii) To minimize the diffusion of PCR products in cells, the extrinsic primers were extended with complementary 5′‐tails. This approach results in the generation of high molecular weight concatamers during PCR cycles. By applying this protocol, immunostainings specific for phospholipase A2 of type IIA mRNA were exclusively detectable in the cytoplasm of HepG2 hepatoma cells, which were used as a model system, whereas the nuclei were unstained. Multiple control experiments yielded completely negative results. These data suggest that the in situ RT‐nested PCR, which in comparison to the method of in situ RT‐PCR‐in situ‐hybridisation is simpler and less time‐consuming, can be used as an alternative approach to identify intracellular nucleic acids.


2002 ◽  
Vol 65 (8) ◽  
pp. 1227-1232 ◽  
Author(s):  
TONGRUI LIU ◽  
KAREN LILJEBJELKE ◽  
ELIZABETH BARTLETT ◽  
CHARLES HOFACRE ◽  
SUSAN SANCHEZ ◽  
...  

Isolation of Salmonella from environmental and processing-plant poultry samples requires the sampling of large numbers of areas within the poultry house or plant. Subsequently, the required number of samples necessitates a large volume of work for a microbiology laboratory, especially when the protocol requires the inclusion of a delayed secondary enrichment for the isolation of Salmonella. This study examined the use of the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) to identify those secondary enrichments containing Salmonella. The unique Salmonella virulence gene invA was chosen as the target for the development of a nested PCR because of its uniform distribution among Salmonella serotypes. The use of nested PCR primers increased the sensitivity of detection 100-fold, resulting in the detection of as few as four cells. There was a strong, statistically significant positive correlation between PCR and culture results as determined by chi-square (P < 0.001) and kappa (k = 0.915; excellent agreement) tests. Using PCR to screen primary enrichments for presumptive Salmonella contamination, we improved our efficiency at isolating Salmonella upon secondary enrichment by 20%, and no false negatives were observed. This method will not only validate the use of secondary enrichment procedures but also reduce costs and manpower required for the surveillance of Salmonella.


2020 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Birhanu Hadush ◽  
Molla Michaelay ◽  
Habtamu Taddele Menghistu ◽  
Nigus Abebe ◽  
Abreha Tesfaye Genzebu ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Epizootic lymphangitis (EL), caused by Histoplasma capsulatum variety farciminosum (HCF) is a contagious, chronic disease of equines, characterized by development of nodular lesions in the lymph nodes, lymphatic vessels and skin. It is one of the most important diseases of equines in Ethiopia, causing significant economic loss, particularly in the livelihood of carthorse owners. To date there is neither effective diagnostic nor control measure implemented in the country. Furthermore, there is a shortage of data on the epidemiology of the disease in different regions of this country. The aim of this study was to investigate epidemiology of EL in northern Ethiopia, using the conventional methods as well as nested polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Results The presence of HCF genetic material was confirmed in 44% (84/191) of the carthorses. Subclinical infection was observed in 18.2% (22/121) of the apparently healthy carthorses. Considering the nested PCR as a gold standard, sensitivity and specificity of clinical examination were 74% and 92.5%, respectively, while the area under the ROC curve (AUR) was 0.83 (95% confidence interval, 0.77, 0.896). Moreover, a moderate (k = 0.675) agreement observed between the nested PCR and clinical examination. Conclusions This study demonstrated widespread occurrence of EL in northern Ethiopia, and the advantage of the nested PCR in detecting infection of HCF, even before the clinical symptoms became apparent.


Plant Disease ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 104 (2) ◽  
pp. 521-526
Author(s):  
Zhiyi Wang ◽  
Yingzhi Zhu ◽  
Zhanbiao Li ◽  
Xin Yang ◽  
Tong Zhang ◽  
...  

Rice orange leaf disease (ROLD), caused by rice orange leaf phytoplasma (ROLP), is transmitted by leafhopper vectors Recilia dorsalis and Nephotettix cinticeps. ROLD severely devastates rice production in Asia. Accurate detection of the pathogen is important for disease management. Current nested polymerase chain reaction (nested PCR) method using phytoplasma universal primers is widely used to detect phytoplasmas; however, it has shortcoming of inconvenience and inaccuracy, for it needs two round of PCR reactions and could produce false positive results due to nontarget amplification. In this study, we developed a PCR assay using a set of primers designed based on the ROLP genome sequence to amplify house-keeping gene FtsH-1 in rice and leafhopper vector samples. This method is simple and rapid, and its sensitivity up to 10 pg/μl of total ROLP DNA. It also minimizes the false positive problem produced by nested PCR. This method was used to survey the geographic distribution of ROLD in southern China from 2016 to 2018. The results showed that the distribution areas and vector carrying rate of ROLD had gradually increased.


2013 ◽  
Vol 88 (1) ◽  
pp. 141-143 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katia Cristina Dantas ◽  
Roseli S. Freitas ◽  
Adriana Pardini Vicentini Moreira ◽  
Marcos Vinicius da Silva ◽  
Gil Benard ◽  
...  

The aim of the study was to detect the rDNA sequences and their regions in Histoplasma capsulatum, which could be considered species-specific and used as a molecular method for this diagnosis by the technique of nested polymerase chain reaction (nested PCR), employing specific sequences (primers) for H. capsulatum: 18S rDNA region (HC18), 100 kDa (HC100) and the sequence 5.8 S-ITS rDNA (HC5.8). The PCR sequences HC18, HC100 and HC5.8 resulted in a specificity of 100%. The molecular assays may increase the specificity, sensitivity and speed in the diagnosis of Histoplasmosis.


2003 ◽  
Vol 93 (12) ◽  
pp. 1471-1477 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Flowers ◽  
J. Hartman ◽  
L. Vaillancourt

Sphaeropsis sapinea is the causal agent of Sphaeropsis tip blight disease of pines. Past surveys of diseased and symptomless Austrian and Scots pines revealed that latent infections of symptomless shoots by S. sapinea are common. The role of these latent infections in the tip blight disease is unknown. A sampling technique and nested-polymerase chain reaction (PCR) protocol were developed to detect latent S. sapinea in symptomless pine shoots. The sampling protocol was designed to be minimally destructive to the shoot so it could be preserved for further studies. The primers that were developed were specific for S. sapinea DNA and did not amplify DNA from any of 13 other endophytic fungal species that were commonly isolated from symptomless pine shoots. The PCR primers also amplified DNA of Botryosphaeria obtusa, which was, however, rare in symptomless Austrian pine tissues. The protocol detected as little as 0.93 pg of S. sapinea DNA in terminal bud samples and 10.4 pg of DNA in bark samples. Correlation (chi-square) analyses indicated that the nested-PCR protocol detected latent S. sapinea infections in both bud and bark samples with an efficiency that was statistically equivalent to isolating the fungus from the tissue. The nested-PCR protocol will make it possible to more quickly identify latent S. sapinea infections in symptomless pine shoots and should be useful in future studies of the latency phenomenon.


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