Use of sloppy molecular beacon probes for identification of mycobacterial species.

ABSTRACT: We report here the use of novel "sloppy" molecular beacon probes in homogeneous PCR screening assays in which thermal denaturation of the resulting probe-amplicon hybrids provides a characteristic set of amplicon melting temperature (T(m)) values that identify which species is present in a sample. Sloppy molecular beacons possess relatively long probe sequences, enabling them to form hybrids with amplicons from many different species despite the presence of mismatched base pairs. By using four sloppy molecular beacons, each possessing a different probe sequence and each labeled with a differently colored fluorophore, four different T(m) values can be determined simultaneously. We tested this technique with 27 different species of mycobacteria and found that each species generates a unique,

SUBMITTER: El-Hajj HH 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2668336 | biostudies-literature | 2009 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature