title: Identification of two genetic markers that distinguish pathogenic and nonpathogenic strains of Acanthamoeba spp.
abstract: Species-level identification of Acanthamoeba isolates is difficult and gives little or no indication of the isolate's pathogenicity. We identified two amplification-based genetic markers that were highly correlated with pathogenicity in Acanthamoeba spp. One marker, designed to amplify a 485-bp fragment of the small-subunit ribosomal RNA gene (ssrDNA), was preferentially amplified from the nonpathogenic strains; amplifications from the pathogenic strains yielded anomalous fragments of 650 and 900 bp. A second marker was developed on the basis of the anomalous 650-bp fragment. Primers to this sequence preferentially amplified a noncoding locus (called Ac6) only from the pathogenic strains. These two genetic markers may be useful for identification of pathogenic Acanthamoeba spp. strains.
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular Microbiology, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO 63110-1093, USA.
authors.forename: D K
authors.initials: DK
authors.lastname: Howe
authors.forename: M H
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Vodkin
authors.forename: R J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Novak
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Visvesvara
authors.forename: G L
authors.initials: GL
authors.lastname: McLaughlin
mesh_terms: D000048:Acanthamoeba / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics / Q000472:pathogenicity*; D000818:Animals; D004275:DNA, Ribosomal / Q000235:genetics; D005819:Genetic Markers; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D019105:Random Amplified Polymorphic DNA Technique
chemical_list: D004275:DNA, Ribosomal; D005819:Genetic Markers