This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Reprints and Permissions Copyright Information Books from ASM Press MicrobeWorld Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Inoue, M. Articles by Wanjin, H. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Inoue, M. Articles by Wanjin, H.

 Previous Article  |  Next Article 

Journal of Clinical Microbiology, August 2005, p. 4262-4265, Vol. 43, No. 8
0095-1137/05/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/JCM.43.8.4262-4265.2005
Copyright © 2005, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Performance of Single-Step Gel-Based Reverse Transcription-PCR (RT-PCR) Assays Equivalent to That of Real-Time RT-PCR Assays for Detection of the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome-Associated Coronavirus

Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology, 61 Biopolis Drive, Proteos, Singapore 138673,¹ Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Tan Tock Seng Hospital, 11 Jalan Tan Tock Seng, Singapore 308433²

Received 11 March 2005/ Returned for modification 18 April 2005/ Accepted 2 May 2005

Simple gel-based one-step reverse transcription-PCR (RT-PCR) assays, used to investigate patients during the 2003 severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) outbreak in Singapore, were found to be as sensitive as commercial and in-house real-time RT-PCR assays. The detection limit was approximately 1 genome equivalent (GE) per 5 µl PCR mixture. One PFU of SARS coronavirus was estimated to be 258 ± 46 GE.