Real-time fluorescence PCR assays for detection and characterization of heat-labile I and heat-stable I enterotoxin genes from enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli.

ABSTRACT: To facilitate the diagnosis of enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli (ETEC) infections in humans, we developed and evaluated real-time fluorescence PCR assays for the Roche LightCycler (LC) against the enterotoxin genes commonly present in strains associated with human illness. Separate LC-PCR assays with identical cycling conditions were designed for the type I heat-labile enterotoxin (LT I) and the type I heat-stable enterotoxin (ST I) genes, using the LC hybridization probe format. A duplex assay for ST I with two sets of amplification primers and three hybridization probes was required to detect the major nucleotide sequence variants of ST I, ST Ia and ST Ib. LC-PCR findings from the testing of 161 E. coli isolates of human origin (138 ETEC and 23 non-ETEC) were compared with those obtained

SUBMITTER: Reischl U 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC516355 | biostudies-literature | 2004 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature