title: A polymerase chain reaction strategy for the diagnosis of camelpox.
abstract: Camelpox is a contagious viral skin disease that is mostly seen in young camels. The disease is caused by the Camelpox virus (CMLV). In the present study, a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assay based on the C18L gene (encoding ankyrin repeat protein) and a duplex PCR based on the C18L and DNA polymerase (DNA pol) genes were developed. The former assay yields a specific amplicon of 243 bp of the C18L gene, whereas the duplex PCR yields 243- and 96-bp products of the C18L and DNA pol genes, respectively, in CMLV, and only a 96-bp product of the DNA pol gene in other orthopoxviruses. The limit of detection was as low as 0.4 ng of viral DNA. Both PCR assays were employed successfully for the direct detection and differentiation of CMLV from other orthopoxviruses, capripoxviruses, and parapoxviruses in both cell culture samples and clinical material. Furthermore, a highly sensitive SYBR Green dye-based, real-time PCR was optimized for quantitation of CMLV DNA. In the standard curve of the quantitative assay, the melting temperature of the specific amplicon at 77.6 degrees C with peak measured fluorescence in dissociation plot was observed with an efficiency of 102%. To the authors' knowledge, this is the first report to describe a C18L gene-based PCR for specific diagnosis of camelpox infection.
authors.affiliation: Division of Virology, Indian Veterinary Research Institute, Campus Mukteswar 263 138, Nainital District, Uttarakhand, India. balavirol@gmail.com
authors.forename: Vinayagamurthy
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Balamurugan
authors.forename: Veerakyathappa
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Bhanuprakash
authors.forename: Madhusudhan
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hosamani
authors.forename: Kallesh Danappa
authors.initials: KD
authors.lastname: Jayappa
authors.forename: Gnanavel
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Venkatesan
authors.forename: Bina
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Chauhan
authors.forename: Raj Kumar
authors.initials: RK
authors.lastname: Singh
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D017487:Ankyrins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics; D002162:Camelus / Q000821:virology*; D004279:DNA, Viral / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics; D004259:DNA-Directed DNA Polymerase / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics; D018155:Orthopoxvirus / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction / Q000662:veterinary; D011213:Poxviridae Infections / Q000097:blood / Q000662:veterinary* / Q000821:virology; D012871:Skin Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000662:veterinary*
chemical_list: D017487:Ankyrins; D004279:DNA, Viral; D004259:DNA-Directed DNA Polymerase