• Korean Journal of Veterinary Research
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• v.52 no.2
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• pp.75-82
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• 2012

We have developed and optimized a multiplex polymerase chain reaction (mPCR) for simultaneous detection of Brucella, Salmonella and Leptospira with high sensitivity and specificity. Three pairs of oligonucleotide primers were designed to specifically amplify the targeted genes of Salmonella, Leptospira and Brucella species with sizes of 521, 408 and 223 bp, respectively. The mPCR did not produce any nonspecific amplification products when tested against 15 related species of bacteria. The sensitivity of the mPCR was 100 fg for Brucella and 1 pg for both Salmonella and Leptospira species. In the field application, kidney, liver and spleen were collected from wild rats and stray cats and examined by mPCR. The high specificity and sensitivity of this mPCR assay provide a valuable tool for diagnosis and for the simultaneous and rapid detection of three zoonotic bacteria that cause disease in both humans and animals. Therefore, this assay could be a useful alternative to the conventional method of culture and single PCR for the detection of each pathogen.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.45 no.4
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• pp.358-364
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• 2017

Asymmetric PCR preferentially amplifies one DNA strand for use in DNA hybridization studies. Linear-After-The-Exponential-PCR (LATE-PCR) is an advanced asymmetric PCR method which uses innovatively designed primers at different concentrations. This study aimed to optimise LATE-PCR parameters to produce single-stranded DNA of Candida spp. and Aspergillus spp. for detection via probe hybridisation. The internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region was used to design limiting primer and excess primer for LATE-PCR. Primer annealing and melting temperature, difference of melting temperature between limiting and excess primer and concentration of primers were optimized. In order to confirm the presence of single-stranded DNA, the LATE-PCR product was hybridised with digoxigenin labeled complementary oligonucleotide probe specific for each fungal genus and detected using anti-digoxigenin antibody by dot blotting. Important parameters that determine the production of single-stranded DNA in a LATE-PCR reaction are difference of melting temperature between the limiting and excess primer of at least $5^{\circ}C$ and primer concentration ratio of excess primer to limiting primer at 20:1. LATE-PCR products of Candida albicans, Candida parapsilosis, Candida tropicalis and Aspergillus terreus at up to 1:100 dilution and after 1 h hybridization time, successfully hybridised to respective oligonucleotide probes with no cross reactivity observed between each fungal genus probe and non-target products. For Aspergillus fumigatus, LATE-PCR products were detected at 1:10 dilution and after overnight hybridisation. These results indicate high detection sensitivity for single-stranded DNA produced by LATE-PCR. In conclusion, this advancement of PCR may be utilised to detect fungal pathogens which can aid the diagnosis of invasive fungal disease.

• The Plant Pathology Journal
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• v.32 no.5
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• pp.414-422
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• 2016

Eucalyptus dieback disease, caused by Cylindrocladium scoparium, has occurred in last few years in large Eucalyptus planting areas in China and other countries. Rapid, simple, and reliable diagnostic techniques are desired for the early detection of Eucalyptus dieback of C. scoparium prior to formulation of efficient control plan. For this purpose, three PCR-based methods of nested PCR, multiplex PCR, loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) were developed for detection of C. scoparium based on factor 1-alpha (tef1) and beta-tubulin gene in this study. All of the three methods showed highly specific to C. scoparium. The sensitivities of the nested PCR and LAMP were much higher than the multiplex PCR. The sensitivity of multiplex PCR was also higher than regular PCR. C. scoparium could be detected within 60 min from infected Eucalyptus plants by LAMP, while at least 2 h was needed by the rest two methods. Using different Eucalyptus tissues as samples for C. scoparium detection, all of the three PCR-based methods showed much better detection results than regular PCR. Base on the results from this study, we concluded that any of the three PCR-based methods could be used as diagnostic technology for the development of efficient strategies of Eucalyptus dieback disease control. Particularly, LAMP was the most practical method in field application because of its one-step and rapid reaction, simple operation, single-tube utilization, and simple visualization of amplification products.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.52 no.4
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• pp.377-381
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• 2014

Microscopy is considered as the gold standard for malaria diagnosis although its wide application is limited by the requirement of highly experienced microscopists. PCR and serological tests provide efficient diagnostic performance and have been applied for malaria diagnosis and research. The aim of this study was to investigate the diagnostic performance of nested PCR and a recently developed an ELISA-based new rapid diagnosis test (RDT), NovaLisa test kit, for diagnosis of malaria infection, using microscopic method as the gold standard. The performance of nested-PCR as a malaria diagnostic tool is excellent with respect to its high accuracy, sensitivity, specificity, and ability to discriminate Plasmodium species. The sensitivity and specificity of nested-PCR compared with the microscopic method for detection of Plasmodium falciparum, Plasmodium vivax, and P. falciparum/P. vivax mixed infection were 71.4 vs 100%, 100 vs 98.7%, and 100 vs 95.0%, respectively. The sensitivity and specificity of the ELISA-based NovaLisa test kit compared with the microscopic method for detection of Plasmodium genus were 89.0 vs 91.6%, respectively. NovaLisa test kit provided comparable diagnostic performance. Its relatively low cost, simplicity, and rapidity enables large scale field application.

• Korean Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.54 no.3
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• pp.209-220
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• 2021

Pacific herring, Clupea pallasii, a keystone species with significant ecological and commercial importance, is declining globally throughout much of its range. While traditional fishing equipment methods remain limited, new sensitive and rapid detection methods should be developed to monitor fisheries resources. To monitor the presence and quantity of C. pallasii from environmental DNA (eDNA) extracted from seawater samples, a pair of primers and a TaqMan^® probe specific to this fish based on mitochondrial cytochrome b (COB) sequences were designed for the real-time PCR (qPCR) assay. The combination of our molecular markers showed high specificity in the qPCR assay, which affirmed the success of presenting a positive signal only in the C. pallasii specimens. The markers also showed a high sensitivity for detecting C. pallasii genomic DNA in the range of 1 pg~100 ng rxn^-1 and its DNA plasmid containing COB amplicon in the range of 1~100,000copies rxn^-1, which produced linear standard calibration curves (r²=0.99). We performed a qPCR assay for environmental water samples obtained from 29 sampling stations in the southeastern coastal regions of South Korea using molecular markers. The assay successfully detected the C. pallasii eDNA from 14 stations (48.2%), with the highest mean concentration in Jinhae Bay with a value of 76.09±18.39 pg L^-1 (246.20±58.58 copies L^-1). Our preliminary application of molecular monitoring of C. pallasii will provide essential information for efficient ecological control and management of this valuable fisheries resource.

• Food Science and Biotechnology
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.357-361
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• 2008

One of the major allergenic proteins in common buckwheat (Fagopyrum elculentum) was found to be a BW10KD. In this work, allergenic BW10KD genomic DNAs from the native common buckwheat 'Pyeongchang' and Tartarian buckwheat 'Clfa47' were cloned by polymerase chain reaction (PCR), and their nucleotide sequences were determined. In addition, a novel PCR assay targeting the allergenic BW10KD gene was developed to detect and differentiate both buckwheat species in food. The nucleotide sequences of the BW10KD genomic DNA from 'Pyeongchang' and 'Clfa47' were 94% identical. Base differences in the nucleotide sequences of the BW10KD genes are probably useful as a molecular marker for species-specific identification. The 'Pyeongchang'-specific primer set 154PF/400PR and the 'Clfa47'-specific primer set 154DF/253DR generated 247 and 100 bp fragments in singleplex PCR, respectively. A duplex PCR assay with 2 species-specific primer sets simultaneously differentiated the 'Pyeongchang' and 'Clfa47' in a single reaction. The PCR assay also successfully allowed for the rapid detection of buckwheat ingredients in foods.

• Journal of Genetic Medicine
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.72-78
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• 2015

Recently, noninvasive prenatal test (NIPT) has been adopted as a primary screening tool for fetal chromosomal aneuploidy. The principle of NIPT lies in isolating the fetal fraction of cell-free DNA in maternal plasma and analyzing it with bioinformatic tools to measure the amount of gene from the target chromosome, such as chromosomes 21, 18, and 13. NIPT will contribute to decreasing the need for unnecessary invasive procedures, including amniocentesis and chorionic villi sampling, for confirming fetal aneuploidy because of its higher positive predictive value than that of the conventional prenatal screening method. However, its greater cost than that of the current antenatal screening protocol may be an obstacle to the adoption of this innovative technique in clinical practice. Digital polymerase chain reaction (dPCR) is a novel approach for detecting and quantifying nucleic acid. dPCR provides real-time diagnostic advantages with higher sensitivity, accuracy, and absolute quantification than conventional quantitative PCR. Since the groundbreaking discovery that fetal cell-free nucleic acid exists in maternal plasma was reported, dPCR has been used for the quantification of fetal DNA and for screening for fetal aneuploidy. It has been suggested that dPCR will decrease the cost by targeting specific sequences in the target chromosome, and dPCR-based noninvasive testing will facilitate progress toward the implementation of a noninvasive approach for screening for trisomy 21, 18, and 13. In this review, we highlight the principle of dPCR and discuss its future implications in clinical practice.

• ALGAE
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• v.32 no.3
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• pp.189-197
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• 2017

To quantify the abundance of the harmful dinoflagellate Cochlodinium polykrikoides in natural seawaters, we developed the innovative procedure using a droplet digital PCR (ddPCR) with C. polykrikoides-specific primers targeting the internal transcription sequence (ITS). The abundance of C. polykrikoides was estimated by the specific copy number of target ITS DNA segments per cell in cultures and natural water samples. The copy number per C. polykrikoides cell as acquired by ddPCR was $157{\pm}16$, which was evaluated against known cell numbers through a simplified protocol preparing DNAs. The abundances of C. polykrikoides in the waters of different locations estimated by ddPCR agreed with the number of cells visually counted under a microscope. This protocol was used to measure the abundance of C. polykrikoides close to and further off the southern coast of Korea in August of 2016 and 2017. The practical application showed that this method can reduce time for analysis and increase accuracy.

• Korean Journal of Veterinary Research
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• v.43 no.3
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• pp.471-476
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• 2003

Malignant catarrhal fever (MCF) is a systemic disease of ruminants caused by ovine herpesvirus 2 (OvHV-2). OvHV-2 is a gamma herpesvirus, which induces frequent latent infection and often difficult to detect its antigens and even specific nucleic acids because of its low viral copies in the infected tissues. Histopathology, serology and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) were compared for the diagnosis of MCF using 10 bison infected with OvHV-2. Histopathological diagnosis was performed using the criteria which was based upon the pathognomic lesions. Serological diagnosis was conducted using its serum with competitive ELISA for the detection of antibodies of OvHV-2. Also, the nest PCR was performed with peripheral blood leukocytes for the detection of OvHV-2-specific DNAs. Primers 556 and 775 were used for the primary amplification, and primers 556 and 555 were used for the secondary amplification. As the results, positive cases were 6 by histopahology, 9 by serology and 10 by PCR. As comparing with other diagnostic methods, PCR was found to be more sensitive than histopathology and serology. The recent development of molecular diagnostic assays has provided powerful tools for investigating how viruses survive in nature. Development of PCR specific for viruses has dramatically improved the accuracy of diagnosis of viruses in clinically infected animals. Furthermore, amplification of viral genomic material by nest PCR represents the most sensitive method for the detection of viruses and might be detected successfully even though very low viral DNA copies. So, it could be used as the first choice for the detection of viral DNAs with low copies such as the status of latent infection. However, it has also some limitation of application like as false negative results by PCR inhibitors and false positive results by contamination. The results of this study suggest that the use of molecular biological methods like PCR may increase the accuracy for the diagnosis of infectious diseases. However, in diagnostic laboratory, it is recommended that PCR assay must be conducted with other diagnostic methods for more reliable diagnosis.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.23
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• pp.10387-10391
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• 2015

Background: This study aimed to identify any association between the p73 gene G4C14-to-A4T14 polymorphism and risk of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) in the south of China. Materials and Methods: We genotyped the p73 gene polymorphism of peripheral blood DNA from 168 patients with NSCLC and 195 normal controls using HRM (high resolution melting) and PCR-CTPP (polymerase chain reaction with confronting two-pair primers). Results: The results of genotyping by HRM and PCR-CTPP were consistent with direct sequencing, the p73 genotype distribution in 168 lung cancer patients being as follows: GC/GC 101 cases (60.1%), GC/AT 59 cases (35.1%), AT/AT 8 cases (4.8%). The carriers of AT/AT genotype had a significantly reduced risk of NSCLC (OR=0.370; 95%CI: 0.170-0.806; p=0.010) as compared with non-carriers. However, we found no relations between p73 genotypes and histological type (p=0.798, $x^2=0.452$), tumor stage (p=0.806, $x^2=0.806$), or lymph node metastasis (p=0.578, $x^2=1.098$). Conclusions: Our findings suggest that the p73 G4C14-to-A4T14 polymorphism may be a modifier of NSCLC susceptibility in the Chinese population.