title: Detection of all serotypes of human astrovirus by the polymerase chain reaction.
abstract: A reverse transcription (RT) and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was designed for the detection of astroviruses based on a conserved nucleotide sequence in the 3'-end of the genome of the 7 known serotypes of human astrovirus. Thirty-eight samples found to contain astrovirus by electron microscopy (EM) were used for evaluation of the assay. The samples were dialyzed for 1 h to remove potential low molecular weight inhibitors of the RT-PCR. Immediately before RT, 1 microliters of the samples were incubated at 94 degrees C for 2 min to disrupt the viral particles. Thirty-six of the samples were positive by PCR, including samples of all 7 serotypes. The two samples that were negative, could hve been false positive by EM, or the viral RNA could have been degraded. All other viruses examined, including calici-, rota- and enteroviruses, were negative.
authors.affiliation: Department of Virology, National Institute of Public Health, Oslo, Norway.
authors.forename: T O
authors.initials: TO
authors.lastname: Jonassen
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Monceyron
authors.forename: T W
authors.initials: TW
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: J B
authors.initials: JB
authors.lastname: Kurtz
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Grinde
mesh_terms: D001483:Base Sequence; D005243:Feces; D006801:Humans; D001257:Mamastrovirus / Q000145:classification / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction / Q000379:methods* / Q000592:standards; D012367:RNA, Viral / Q000032:analysis; D012194:RNA-Directed DNA Polymerase; D012703:Serotyping; D014777:Virus Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis*
chemical_list: D012367:RNA, Viral; D012194:RNA-Directed DNA Polymerase