实时荧光定量PCR技术及其在昆虫学研究中的应用

实时荧光定量PCR(real-time fluorescent quantitative polymerase chain reaction, FQ-PCR)是一种利用荧光信号实时监测体外DNA分子PCR复制过程中每个循环的扩增产物,从而实现对DNA模板进行定量分析的技术,具有准确、快速、灵敏、特异等优点,在动植物基因工程、动植物检疫、微生物鉴定与分类、食品安全检测和医学等领域中得到广泛应用。本文对实时荧光定量PCR技术的原理、优缺点及近年来新的荧光探针的原理、类型进行了评述,并对实时荧光定量PCR技术在昆虫学研究中的应用进行了综述。     

实时荧光定量PCR的应用和进展

实时荧光定量PCR技术通过检测PCR产物中荧光讯号强度来达到定量的目的,该技术不仅实现了PCR从定性到定量的飞跃,而且与常规PCR相比,它具有特异性更强、有效解决PCR污染问题、自动化程度高等特点,目前已在动植物基因工程,微生物和医学领域中得到广泛应用。本文对实时荧光定量PCR技术的原理、优缺点及近年来新兴起的荧光探针的原理、优缺点进行了评述,重点及创新点是对实时荧光定量PCR技术在动植物基因工程,微生物和医学领域的应用进行了比较全面的综述,并对实时荧光定量PCR技术的普及应用及在基因诊断领域的前景做了进一步的展望。     

实时荧光定量PCR及其在传染性疾病检测中的应用

实时荧光定量PCR技术被广泛应用于实验研究、临床检测中。与普通的PCR相比,实时荧光定量PCR技术具有特异性强、灵敏度高、重复性好、定量准确、速度快、全封闭反应等优点。我们综述了实时荧光定量PCR技术的原理、定量方法,及其在传染性疾病检测研究中的应用。     

实时荧光定量PCR技术在鱼类病害研究中的应用

实时荧光定量PCR技术是一种新的核酸定量技术,通过检测PCR产物中荧光信号强度达到定量的目的,与常规PCR相比,具有无污染、特异性强、检测灵敏、定量准确等特点,该技术在分子诊断、动植物检疫等方面得到了广泛的应用.目前水产养殖业处于飞速发展时期,其中鱼类的病害问题也日益突出,为了预防和控制鱼类病害,实时荧光定量PCR技术已逐渐应用于鱼类病害的研究中.该文将从实时荧光定量PCR的技术原理、主要类型以及实时荧光定量PCR技术在鱼类病害研究的应用研究作一综述.     

实时定量PCR技术的介绍

实时定量PCR(real-timePCR)技术是近几年发展起来的新技术 ,既保持了PCR技术灵敏、快速的特点 ,又克服了以往PCR技术中存在的假阳性污染和不能进行准确定量的缺点。另外 ,还有重复性好、省力、低费用等优点。实时定量PCR技术是从传统PCR技术发展而来 ,其基本原理是相同的 ,主要不同之处是其定量的体系。下面简单介绍一下该技术定量的原理。1　荧光染料的应用荧光染料的应用是实时PCR技术能够进行定量检测的一个重要部分 ,在PCR反应体系中应用荧光标记物 ,通过监测荧光信号的累积实现对整个PCR循环进程的观察。目前主要有四种方法…     

实时荧光定量PCR技术在曲霉病诊断中的应用

实时荧光定量PCR技术自问世以来,因其具有高度的特异性和灵敏性、可定量、污染少等特点而得到了广泛的应用,此技术用于曲霉的研究也有近十年的历史。本文对近年来实时荧光定量PCR技术在曲霉病诊断中的应用情况进行综述。     

荧光定量PCR 方法及分子标志物在海洋污染监测中的应用进展

荧光定量PCR 作为一种核酸定量技术, 可在PCR 扩增时在体系中加入荧光染料或荧光基团, 实时监测荧光信号从而对PCR 扩增产物进行实时准确定量, 技术灵敏度高, 特异性强。通过对荧光定量PCR 的原理、分类、优缺点及几种定量分析方法对比进行简述, 并对其在国内外海洋环境污染监测中的广泛应用和研究进行了全面综述, 从而对荧光定量PCR 和分子标志物在海洋监测中的应用前景做进一步的展望。     

实时荧光定量PCR技术在肠道微生物领域中的研究进展

实时荧光定量PCR技术是目前发展起来的快速、精确定量核酸的最有效的方法之一,是生物定量分析的强有力的手段。与宏基因组测序等测序技术相比,实时荧光定量PCR技术能确定出样品中菌体的具体数量,同时具有操作简便、快速高效、特异性强、高通量等特点,因此被广泛应用于肠道微生物领域中。近年来,在肠道微生物和疾病的相关研究中,采用实时荧光定量PCR技术已成为趋势。综述了近几年实时荧光定量PCR在肠道微生物多样性和饮食干预在微生物菌群的基因组成方面的研究进展。     

实时荧光定量PCR在固氮酶基因检测中的应用

实时荧光定量PCR是近年发展起来的一种新的实时定量检测特定核酸技术,它是核酸探针技术、荧光共振能量传递技术和PCR技术的有机结合。与常规PCR相比,它具有特异性更强、能有效解决PCR污染问题、自动化程度高等特点,扩大了PCR的应用范围。概述实时荧光定量PCR技术在固氮酶(nifH)基因检测中的应用与研究进展,并探讨该技术的发展和应用前景。     

实时定量PCR及其在轮状病毒检测中的应用

实时定量PCR(Real-time polymerase chain reaction/quantitative Real-time polymerase chain reaction,Real-time PCR/qPCR)就是在PCR扩增过程中,通过荧光信号对PCR进程进行实时监测。它具有特异性强、灵敏度高、定量准确和快速等优点,在生物医学领域中得到广泛的应用。对实时定量PCR技术的原理和类型,实时定量PCR技术在生物医学领域的应用,尤其在轮状病毒诊断、检测及疫苗研究中的应用及其未来前景进行了综述。     

Intestinal parasitic infections in an industrialized country; a new focus on children with better DNA-based diagnostics

In recent years, the isolation of parasitic DNA from faecal samples and PCR techniques, have been improved and simplified. Moreover, the introduction of real-time PCR has made it possible to multiplex different targets into one reaction. These new technical possibilities make it feasible to introduce PCR with its unsurpassed sensitivity and specificity in a routine laboratory setting for the diagnosis of intestinal parasites. Detection rates of the parasitic infections included in the PCR are increased significantly compared with microscopy. Molecular diagnostics, especially in children, reveal a possible cause of the gastrointestinal complaints in many more cases compared with conventional methods. Usually in GP patients no other pathogenic parasites are detected using microscopy and in the returning travellers additional parasites are found with microscopy in a minority of cases only. Multiplex real-time PCR offers a highly sensitive and specific diagnostic alternative for labour intensive microscopy in clinical laboratory practice. Additional diagnostic methods for the detection of parasitic infections that are not included as PCR target can be limited to a selected group of patients.     

Statistical diagnostics emerging from external quality control of real-time PCR

Besides the application of conventional qualitative PCR as a valuable tool to enrich or identify specific sequences of nucleic acids, a new revolutionary technique for quantitative PCR determination has been introduced recently. It is based on real-time detection of PCR products revealed as a homogeneous accumulating signal generated by specific dyes. However, as far as we know, the influence of the variability of this technique on the reliability of the quantitative assay has not been thoroughly investigated. A national program of external quality assurance (EQA) for real-time PCR determination involving 42 Italian laboratories has been developed to assess the analytical performance of real-time PCR procedures. Participants were asked to perform a conventional experiment based on the use of an external reference curve (standard curve) for real-time detection of three cDNA samples with different concentrations of a specific target. In this paper the main analytical features of the standard curve have been investigated in an attempt to produce statistical diagnostics emerging from external quality control. Specific control charts were drawn to help biochemists take technical decisions aimed at improving the performance of their laboratories. Overall, our results indicated a subset of seven laboratories whose performance appeared to be markedly outside the limits for at least one of the standard curve features investigated. Our findings suggest the usefulness of the approach presented here for monitoring the heterogeneity of results produced by different laboratories and for selecting those laboratories that need technical advice on their performance.     

A novel real-time quantitative PCR method using attached universal template probe

A novel real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (PCR) method using an attached universal template (UT) probe is described. The UT is an approximately 20 base attachment to the 5′ end of a PCR primer, and it can hybridize with a complementary TaqMan probe. One of the advantages of this method is that different target DNA sequences can be detected employing the same UT probe, which substantially reduces the cost of real-time PCR set-up. In addition, this method could be used for simultaneous detection using a 6-carboxy-fluorescein-labeled UT probe for the target gene and a 5-hexachloro-fluorescein-labeled UT probe for the reference gene in a multiplex reaction. Moreover, the requirement of target DNA length for UT–PCR analysis is relatively flexible, and it could be as short as 56 bp in this report, suggesting the possibility of detecting target DNA from partially degraded samples. The UT–PCR system with degenerate primers could also be designed to screen homologous genes. Taken together, our results suggest that the UT–PCR technique is efficient, reliable, inexpensive and less labor-intensive for quantitative PCR analysis.     

Optimized Quantification of Fragmented,Free Circulating DNA in Human Blood Plasma Using a Calibrated Duplex Real-Time PCR

Background

Duplex real-time PCR assays have been widely used to determine amounts and concentrations of free circulating DNA in human blood plasma samples. Circulatory plasma DNA is highly fragmented and hence a PCR-based determination of DNA concentration may be affected by the limited availability of full-length targets in the DNA sample. This leads to inaccuracies when counting PCR target copy numbers as whole genome equivalents.

Methodology/Principal Findings

A model system was designed allowing for assessment of bias in a duplex real-time PCR research assay. We collected blood plasma samples from male donors in pools of 6 to 8 individuals. Circulatory plasma DNA was extracted and separated by agarose gel electrophoresis. Separated DNA was recovered from the gel in discrete size fractions and analyzed with different duplex real-time PCR Taqman assays detecting a Y chromosome-specific target and an autosomal target. The real-time PCR research assays used differed significantly in their ability to determine the correct copy number ratio of 0.5 between Y chromosome and autosome targets in DNA of male origin. Longer PCR targets did not amplify quantitatively in circulatory DNA, due to limited presence of full-length target sequence in the sample.

Conclusions

PCR targets of the same small size are preferred over longer targets when comparing fractional circulatory DNA concentrations by real-time PCR. As an example, a DYS14/18S duplex real-time PCR research assay is presented that correctly measures the fractional concentration of male DNA in a male/female mixture of circulatory, fragmented DNA.     

Molecular beacons: a real-time polymerase chain reaction assay for detecting Salmonella

Molecular beacons are oligonucleotide probes that become fluorescent upon hybridization. We developed a real-time PCR assay to detect the presence of Salmonella species using these fluorogenic reporter molecules. A 122-base-pair section of the himA was used as the amplification target. Molecular beacons were designed to recognize a 16-base-pair region on the amplicon. As few as 2 colony-forming unit (CFU) per PCR reaction could be detected. We also demonstrated the ability of the molecular beacons to discriminate between amplicons obtained from similar species such as Escherichia coli and Citrobacter freundii in real-time PCR assays. These assays could be carried out entirely in sealed PCR tubes, enabling fast and direct detection of Salmonella in a semiautomated format.     

Direct and efficient cloning of full-length genes from environmental DNA by RT-qPCR and modified TAIL-PCR

Environmental DNA (eDNA) is defined as the total DNA that can be isolated from environmental samples. In total, therefore, eDNA includes a vast functional genes, and various approaches have been developed to retrieve full-length functional genes from eDNA. The efficiency of PCR amplification of eDNA is limited, however, because in truth, the net content of actual target functional genes is rather low in eDNA. To address this technical challenge, we developed a fast and effective approach to cloning full-length functional genes from eDNA. Two important modifications were made to existing PCR-based methods: first, a real-time quantitative PCR step was added to assess the difficulty of obtaining full-length genes; second, we improved the thermal asymmetric interlaced PCR program to make it more effective for cloning the flanking regions of known fragments that are present at low abundance in eDNA. Using this approach, five novel full-length functional genes with very low identity to known genes were cloned from environmental samples. This approach has great potential for allowing discovery of functional genes from environmental sources and may be broadly applicable to molecular biology research.     

Determination of Transgene Copy Number in Stably Transfected Mammalian Cells by PCR-Capillary Electrophoresis Assay

The quantitative determination of transgene copy number in stably transfected mammalian cells has been traditionally estimated by Southern blot analysis. Recently, other methods have become available for appraisal of gene copy number, such as real-time PCR. Herein we describe a new method based on a fluorescently labeled PCR, followed by capillary electrophoresis. We amplified our target gene (prothrombin) and the internal control originating from genomic DNA (18S rRNA) in the same PCR tube and calculated the mean peak height ratio of the target:control gene for every cell clone sample. With this approach we identified stably transfected cell clones bearing the same transgene copy number. The results of our assay were confirmed by real-time PCR. Our method proves to be fast, low-cost, and reproducible compared with traditionally used methods. This assay can be used as a rapid screening tool for the determination of gene copy number in gene expression experiments.     

Comparison of droplet digital PCR with quantitative real-time PCR for determination of zygosity in transgenic maize

This study evaluated the applicability of droplet digital PCR (ddPCR) as a tool for maize zygosity determination using quantitative real-time PCR (qPCR) as a reference technology. Quantitative real-time PCR is commonly used to determine transgene copy number or GMO zygosity characterization. However, its effectiveness is based on identical reaction efficiencies for the transgene and the endogenous reference gene. Additionally, a calibrator sample should be utilized for accuracy. Droplet digital PCR is a DNA molecule counting technique that directly counts the absolute number of target and reference DNA molecules in a sample, independent of assay efficiency or external calibrators. The zygosity of the transgene can be easily determined using the ratio of the quantity of the target gene to the reference single copy endogenous gene. In this study, both the qPCR and ddPCR methods were used to determine insect-resistant transgenic maize IE034 zygosity. Both methods performed well, but the ddPCR method was more convenient because of its absolute quantification property.     

Standardized determination of real-time PCR efficiency from a single reaction set-up

We propose a computing method for the estimation of real-time PCR amplification efficiency. It is based on a statistic delimitation of the beginning of exponentially behaving observations in real-time PCR kinetics. PCR ground fluorescence phase, non-exponential and plateau phase were excluded from the calculation process by separate mathematical algorithms. We validated the method on experimental data on multiple targets obtained on the LightCycler platform. The developed method yields results of higher accuracy than the currently used method of serial dilutions for amplification efficiency estimation. The single reaction set-up estimation is sensitive to differences in starting concentrations of the target sequence in samples. Furthermore, it resists the subjective influence of researchers, and the estimation can therefore be fully instrumentalized.