title: Comparison of genus- and species-specific probes for PCR detection of mycobacterial infections.
abstract: We describe experiments comparing use of different DNA probes to detect mycobacteria in clinical specimens after PCR. The objective was to assess correlation between results using Mycobacterium genus-specific, and species-specific M. tuberculosis probes. Given sufficient concordance, sequential use of such probes would provide a useful screening tool. An evaluation of genus-specific probes compared use of repetitive sequences in the clone pMAv17 with the 65-kDa sequences. Sensitivity was 100% for pMAv17, 93% using the 65-kDa sequence; specificity was 70% for both. We then compared M. tuberculosis-specific probes developed by us (Tb400) with IS6110 and mpt40. Sensitivity using Tb400 was 100%; using IS6110 was 97%, and using mpt40 was 50%. Specificity using Tb400 and IS6110 was 68%, and was 70% using mpt40. Fourteen specimens which were PCR-positive and culture-negative, were positive using both genus probes, and the M. tuberculosis-specific probes Tb400, and IS6110. Ten of these were positive using mpt40.
authors.affiliation: Center for Biotechnology, Anna University, Madras.
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Sritharan
authors.forename: J V
authors.initials: JV
authors.lastname: Iralu
authors.forename: R H
authors.initials: RH
authors.lastname: Barker
mesh_terms: D001483:Base Sequence; D017931:DNA Primers; D015342:DNA Probes; D004269:DNA, Bacterial / Q000032:analysis; D005069:Evaluation Studies as Topic; D006801:Humans; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009164:Mycobacterium Infections / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000382:microbiology; D009169:Mycobacterium tuberculosis / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D013045:Species Specificity
chemical_list: D017931:DNA Primers; D015342:DNA Probes; D004269:DNA, Bacterial