Abstract

Applications of polymerase chain reaction: Single strand conformation polymorphism to diagnose disease causing microorganisms

Author(s): S.Umesha, S.Chandrashekar, S.Chandan

Diagnosis of disease causing microorganisms is still primarily based on conventional methods viz., staining, cultures and biochemical analyses etc.,Aseries ofmolecular techniques such as Polymerase Chain Reaction- Single Strand Conformation polymorphism(PCR-SSCP), RandomAmplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD), Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphism( RFLP),Amplified Fragment Length Polymorphism(AFLP) etc., are increasingly introduced and incorporated in the clinicalmicrobiology laboratories world wide. These techniques are, rapid and offer high sensitivities, screening method which is cost-effective and the entire procedure takes around 6 to 7 h only, and hundreds of samples can be screened at a time.We have attempted to consolidate the literature about the utilization of PCR-SSCP technique in diagnosing the disease causing microorganisms.