Previous Article | Next Article ![]()
Applied and Environmental Microbiology, February 2001, p. 742-749, Vol. 67, No. 2
Departments of Molecular Virology and
Microbiology1 and
Medicine,3 Baylor College of Medicine,
Houston, Texas 77030, and Microbiology Laboratory, IFREMER, 44 311 Nantes Cedex 03, France2
Received 15 May 2000/Accepted 16 November 2000
Outbreaks of food- and waterborne gastroenteritis are being
increasingly reported throughout the world. The analysis of
environmental samples by newer diagnostic techniques such as reverse
transcription-PCR (RT-PCR) amplification of nucleic acid has begun to
identify human enteric viruses (predominantly "Norwalk-like"
viruses [NLVs]) as the cause of many of these outbreaks. To
streamline NLV detection from environmental samples such as shellfish,
we have developed an RT-PCR-oligoprobe amplification and detection
method using several new procedures that enable confirmed RT-PCR
amplification and product detection in 1 day. The new steps include
replacing reverse transcriptase and Taq polymerase with
rTth polymerase, a heat-stable enzyme that functions as
both a reverse transcriptase and DNA polymerase, in a single-tube,
single-buffer, elevated temperature reaction. An internal standard
Norwalk virus (NV) RNA control is added to each RT-PCR to identify
sample inhibition, and thermolabile uracil N-glycosylase is
incorporated into the reaction to prevent PCR product carryover
contamination. Finally, RT-PCR-generated amplicons are detected in
microtiter wells using virus-specific biotinylated oligoprobes in an
enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay-based format. The DNA enzyme
immunoassay is based on the capture of PCR product by biotinylated
probes fixed onto individual streptavidin-coated wells. Using this
method, low levels of NV were detected in stool and both NLV and
hepatitis A virus were detected in bivalve mollusks following
bioaccumulation. The method also successfully detected NLV in oysters
implicated in an outbreak of NLV gastroenteritis. This method
dramatically decreases the time needed for analysis and is amenable to automation.
0099-2240/01/$04.00+0 DOI: 10.1128/AEM.67.2.742-749.2001
Copyright © 2001, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.
Development of a Reverse Transcription-PCR-DNA
Enzyme Immunoassay for Detection of "Norwalk-Like" Viruses and
Hepatitis A Virus in Stool and Shellfish

*
Corresponding author. Mailing address: Division of
Molecular Virology, Baylor College of Medicine, 1 Baylor Plaza,
Houston, TX 77030. Phone: (713) 798-6849. Fax: (713) 798-6802. E-mail: ratmar{at}bcm.tmc.edu.
Present address: Johns Hopkins School of Hygiene and Public Health,
Department of Environmental Health Sciences, Baltimore, MD 21205.
This article has been cited by other articles:
Copyright © 2009 by the American Society for Microbiology. For an alternate route to Journals.ASM.org, visit: http://intl-journals.asm.org | More Info»