Development of a generic Ehrlichia FRET-qPCR and investigation of ehrlichioses in domestic ruminants on five Caribbean islands.

ABSTRACT:

Background

The Ehrlichia are obligate intracellular Gram-negative tick-borne bacteria that are important human and animal pathogens. There is a need for assays to rapidly and reliably detect and differentiate the five generally recognized species into groups in a single reaction: E. canis, E. chaffeensis, E. ewingii, E. muris and E. ruminantium.

Methods

We developed primers and probes against the 16S rRNA gene to enable us to reliably detect the five major Ehrlichia spp. in a single FRET-qPCR. We tested the Ehrlichia FRET-qPCR on reference strains and on DNA from the blood of domestic ruminants from five Caribbean islands. The Ehrlichia present were determined using melting point analysis and by sequencing the Ehrlichia FRET-qPCR products as well as those of a nested PCR aga

SUBMITTER: Zhang J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4595018 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature