title: Conserved polymerase chain reaction primers fail in diagnosis of parasitic infections.
abstract: We demonstrate that a set of previously described polymerase chain reaction primers used for detection of hemogregarines in reptiles will also amplify the same region of the 18S rRNA gene of reptiles, amphibians, mammals, and insects and thus should not be used for molecular diagnosis. These same primers have also been used to differentiate 2 species of Plasmodium that infect lizards. We provide evidence that the observed variance may have been dependent on parasitemia and not representative of actual molecular differences between the 2 parasite species.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, University of Vermont, Burlington 05405, USA.
authors.forename: S L
authors.initials: SL
authors.lastname: Perkins
authors.forename: J M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Martin
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000852:Anopheles; D001483:Base Sequence; D003048:Coccidiosis / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000469:parasitology; D017124:Conserved Sequence; D004247:DNA / Q000737:chemistry; D017931:DNA Primers / Q000592:standards*; D004331:Drosophila melanogaster; D016783:Eucoccidiida / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D005189:False Positive Reactions; D006801:Humans; D008116:Lizards; D008288:Malaria / Q000175:diagnosis; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D018512:Parasitemia / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000469:parasitology; D010961:Plasmodium / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification; D010963:Plasmodium falciparum / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction / Q000592:standards*; D012337:RNA, Ribosomal, 18S / Q000235:genetics; D011898:Ranidae
chemical_list: D017931:DNA Primers; D012337:RNA, Ribosomal, 18S; D004247:DNA