Project: A Quantitative PCR (QPCR) Approach to Rapidly Distinguish Between Myxobolus Species and Assess Infection Severity in Fish

Primary Investigator: Ken Cain
Project Summary: The objectives of this study were to: 1) design primer/probe combinations specific for detecting M. cerebralis based on the heat shock protein 70 (Hsp 70) and 18s ribosomal DNA (rDNA) gene sequences, both of which are highly conserved and species specific, 2)determine sensitivity of QPCR analysis in relation to current diagnostic methods and 3) identify potential relationships between the parasite's genetic copy number and infection severity. In this study primer/probe combinations developed for the Hsp 70 and 18s sequences were specific for M. cerebralis. It was shown that QPCR analysis was as sensitive as current PCR techniques and both were more sensitive than histopathology. In addition, detection capabilities using both primer/probe combinations correlated with infection severity within infected juvenile rainbow trout. These results suggest QPCR may be useful as a diagnostic method to simultaneously detect M. cerebralis in infected samples and give a relative indication of infection severity. Such an assay could reduce time and labor when compared to screening large numbers of samples with traditional diagnostic methods.
Funding Period: 2002-2003
Final Report: cain_02-03.pdf
Dataset(s) associated with this project:

There are no datasets associated with this project.