Development of TaqMan real-time RT-PCR for sensitive detection of diverse Raspberry ringspot virus isolates.

In this study, a TaqMan real-time RT-PCR assay was developed for the rapid and sensitive detection of RpRSV. Primers and probes targeting the most conserved region of the movement protein gene were designed to amplify a 229 bp fragment of RpRSV RNA-2. The assay was able to amplify all RpRSV isolates tested. The detection limit of the RpRSV target region was estimated to be 61-98 copies, depending on the RpRSV strain. The sensitivity was about 100 times greater than the conventional RT-PCR assay using the same primers as the real-time RT-PCR assay. A comparison with published conventional RT-PCR assays indicated that both published assays lacked reliability and sensitivity, as neither were able to amplify all RpRSV isolates tested, and both were at least 1,000 times less sensitive than the novel TaqMan real-time RT-PCR assay. The assay can also be run as a duplex reaction with the nad5 plant internal control primers and probe to simultaneously verify the PCR competency of the samples. The amplicon obtained with the real-time RT-PCR assay is suitable for direct sequencing if it is necessary to further confirm the RpRSV identity or determine the RpRSV strain.
PMID: 31958468 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]

Source: Journal of Virological Methods - January 16, 2020 Category: Virology Authors: Tang J, Ng F, Kanchiraopally D, Ward L Tags: J Virol Methods Source Type: research