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Updated: Apr 5, 2026
Demonstrating a Multi-drug Resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis Amplification Microarray
Published on: April 25, 2014
Conventional and real-time PCR targeting 16S ribosomal RNA for the detection of Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex
1Department of Biomedical Laboratory Science, College of Health Sciences, Yonsei University, Wonju, Korea; Department of Biomedical Laboratory Science, Songho College, Hoengseong-gun, Korea.
Setting:
Conventional diagnostic methods for tuberculosis (TB) have limited sensitivity and specificity or are time-consuming.
Objective:
16S rDNA and 16S rRNA of Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex (MTC) were used as targets to develop sensitive and specific polymerase chain reactions (PCRs) to improve the diagnosis of MTC.
Design:
We developed conventional and real-time PCRs targeting 16S rDNA and rRNA of MTC.
Results:
PCRs targeting 16S rRNA had a 10-100 times lower limit of detection for M. tuberculosis than PCRs targeting 16S rDNA. The sensitivities of the 16S rDNA PCR, 16S rRNA reverse transcription PCR (RT-PCR), 16S rDNA real-time PCR and 16S rRNA real-time RT-PCR for sputum specimens were respectively 92%, 94.6%, 96% and 100%. Real-time PCR showed no cross-reactivity, but conventional PCR had cross-reactivity to M. avium, M. gastri and M. nonchromogenicum.
Conclusion:
PCRs targeting the 16S rRNA of MTC were more sensitive than those targeting 16S rDNA; 16S rRNA real-time RT-PCR showed the highest sensitivity and specificity for MTC.
