Improving the Sensitivity of Real-time PCR Detection of Group B Streptococcus Using Consensus Sequence-Derived Oligonucleotides

Ameneh Khatami; Tara M Randis; Anna Chamby; Thomas A Hooven; Margaret Gegick; Evan Suzman; Brady A'Hearn-Thomas; Andrew P Steenhoff; Adam J Ratner

doi:10.1093/ofid/ofy164

Improving the Sensitivity of Real-time PCR Detection of Group B Streptococcus Using Consensus Sequence-Derived Oligonucleotides

Open Forum Infect Dis. 2018 Jul 7;5(7):ofy164. doi: 10.1093/ofid/ofy164. eCollection 2018 Jul.

Authors

Ameneh Khatami¹, Tara M Randis¹, Anna Chamby¹, Thomas A Hooven², Margaret Gegick¹, Evan Suzman¹, Brady A'Hearn-Thomas³, Andrew P Steenhoff^{4

5}, Adam J Ratner¹

Affiliations

¹ Departments of Pediatrics and Microbiology, New York University School of Medicine, New York, New York.
² Department of Pediatrics, Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York, New York.
³ Department of Pediatrics, University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine, Iowa City, Iowa.
⁴ Department of Pediatrics, Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
⁵ Division of Pediatric Infectious Diseases, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Abstract

Group B Streptococcus (GBS) is a perinatal pathogen and an emerging cause of disease in adults. Culture-independent GBS detection relies on polymerase chain reaction (PCR) of conserved genes, including sip. We demonstrate suboptimal sensitivity of the existing sip PCR strategy and validate an improved method based on consensus sequences from >100 GBS genomes.

Abstract

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