- Poster presentation
- Open access
- Published:
Single amplification PCR targeting mitochondrial genome more sensitive in diagnosing malaria than nested 18S PCR among returned travelers in Bergen, Norway
Malaria Journal volume 11, Article number: P116 (2012)
Background
Nested PCR is a commonly used molecular technique diagnosing malaria because of its high sensitivity and specificity. However, it is time consuming, has low cost-efficiency and considerable risk of contamination. Using amplification targets presented in multiple copies, such as rRNA 18S locus, increases sensitivity. Mitochondrial targets with a higher copy number might further increase sensitivity.
Methods
The sensitivity and specificity of two newly designed Plasmodium genus-specific single amplification PCR programs, based on previously published primers targeting the 18S locus [1] and the mitochondrial genome [2], were compared with a widely used nested 18S PCR [3]. Analyses in dilution series made from standardised P. falciparum reference material were performed, as well as retrospective analyses in 135 blood samples, previously evaluated by routine microscopy, from a cohort of 132 fever patients with potential imported malaria. In addition, sequencing of the 220 bp mitochondrial PCR products was performed.
Results
The new single mitochondrial PCR detected dilutions down to 0.5 parasites/µl with 97% sensitivity (29/30 parallels), while the single 18S PCR and nested 18S PCR detected 0.5 p/µl with 93% and 87% sensitivity, respectively. All three assays detected positive DNA as low as 0.05 p/µl, though not consistently so by any method. Among the patient samples, 20.7 % (28/135) were evaluated as malaria positive by microscopy and PCR combined. Both single amplification PCR assays identified malaria genus with 100% accuracy compared to 27 positives detected by the nested 18S PCR reference method. The mitochondrial PCR detected one more positive than the 18S PCR assays, which was also positive by microscopy, and had 100 % sensitivity (28/28). Routine microscopy missed two infections detected by all three PCR assays. Sequencing of the genus-specific mitochondrial PCR products revealed different single nucleotide polymorphisms which allowed a species-specific identification of the 28 sequences with following distribution of species; 20 P. falciparum, six P. vivax, one P. ovale and one P. malariae.
Conclusions
Design of PCR programs with suitable parameters and optimization resulted in simpler and faster single amplification assays without reducing the sensitivity and specificity compared to a nested PCR reference method. The new mitochondrial PCR, where the amplification target has a higher copy number than for 18S targets, had in this study highest sensitivity, both among standardised reference and patient material, compared to the 18S PCR assays. Sequencing of genus-specific mitochondrial PCR products might be useful as a species determination method, and merits further investigation.
References
Snounou G, Viriyakosol S, Zhu XP, Jarra W, Pinheiro L, do Rosario VE, Thaithong S, Brown KN: High sensitivity of detection of human malaria parasites by the use of nested polymerase chain reaction. Molecular and biochemical parasitology. 1993, 61: 315-320. 10.1016/0166-6851(93)90077-B.
Polley SD, Mori Y, Watson J, Perkins MD, Gonzalez IJ, Notomi T, Chiodini PL, Sutherland CJ: Mitochondrial DNA targets increase sensitivity of malaria detection using loop-mediated isothermal amplification. Journal of clinical microbiology. 2010, 48: 2866-2871. 10.1128/JCM.00355-10.
Singh B, Bobogare A, Cox-Singh J, Snounou G, Abdullah MS, Rahman HA: A genus- and species-specific nested polymerase chain reaction malaria detection assay for epidemiologic studies. The American journal of tropical medicine and hygiene. 1999, 60: 687-692.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
This article is published under license to BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
About this article
Cite this article
Haanshuus, C.G., Mohn, S.C., Mørch, K. et al. Single amplification PCR targeting mitochondrial genome more sensitive in diagnosing malaria than nested 18S PCR among returned travelers in Bergen, Norway. Malar J 11 (Suppl 1), P116 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1186/1475-2875-11-S1-P116
Published:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/1475-2875-11-S1-P116