Sacbrood virus (SBV) is a picorna-like virus that affects honey bees (Apis mellifera) and results in the death of the larvae. Several procedures are available to detect Chinese SBV (CSBV) in clinical samples, but not to estimate the level of CSBV infection. The aim of this study was develop an assay for rapid detection and quantification of this virus. Primers and probes were designed that were...

BACKGROUND MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small, non-coding RNAs capable of postranscriptionally regulating gene expression. Accurate expression profiling is crucial for understanding the biological roles of miRNAs, and exploring them as biomarkers of diseases. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS A novel, highly sensitive, and reliable miRNA quantification approach,termed S-Poly(T) miRNA assay, is designe...

The relationship between the bryozoan Bugula neritina and its symbiont "Candidatus Endobugula sertula" is a specific yet complex model for defensive symbiosis where the host larvae obtain chemical protection from predation by symbiont-produced bryostatin. The symbiotic bacteria are located in both larval and adult tissues of the host. However, the bryostatins levels are higher in larvae and in ...

Nowadays, most nucleic acid detections using fluorescent probes rely on quenching of fluorescence by energy transfer from one fluorophore to another or to a non-fluorescent molecule (quencher). The most widely used quencher in fluorescent probes is 4-((4-(dimethylamino)phenyl)azo)benzoic acid (DABCYL). We targeted a nucleoside-DABCYL analogue which could be incorporated anywhere in an oligonucl...

This study reports on the first quantification of avian influenza virus in the organs of mute swans that died during the epizootic of avian influenza (H5N1) between January and April 2006 in the Czech Republic. The quantitative real-time Reverse Transcriptase PCR (qRT-PCR) assay based on a TaqMan probe was developed for a rapid detection and quantification of avian influenza virus RNA in clinic...

Environmental DNA (eDNA) is being rapidly adopted as a tool to detect rare animals. Quantitative PCR (qPCR) using probe-based chemistries may represent a particularly powerful tool because of the method's sensitivity, specificity, and potential to quantify target DNA. However, there has been little work understanding the performance of these assays in the presence of closely related, sympatric ...

The red sea bream iridovirus (RSIV) belonging to genus Megalocytivirus is responsible for iridoviral disease (RSIVD) in marine and freshwater fishes. Although several diagnostic assays RSIV have been developed, sensitivity (DSe) specificity (DSp) of real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) are not yet evaluated. In this study, we developed a TaqMan probe-based PCR method evaluated its DSe DSp....

This paper describes a short-amplicon-based TaqMan probe quantitative real-time PCR (qPCR) assay for the quantitative detection of canine meat in chicken nuggets, which are very popular across the world, including Malaysia. The assay targeted a 100-bp fragment of canine cytb gene using a canine-specific primer and TaqMan probe. Specificity against 10 different animals and plants species demonst...