Nonspecific amplification of human DNA by Streptococcus pneumoniae LytA primer

Determination of various analytical parameters is essential for the validation of primers used for in-house nucleic acid amplification tests. While standardising a high-resolution melt analysis (HRMA) for detection of Streptococcus pneumoniae in acute pyogenic meningitis, we encountered non-specific amplification of certain base pair sequences of human DNA by Centers for Disease Control & Prevention, USA recommended S. pneumoniae LytA primer.

HRMA was standardised using DNA extracted from an ATCC strain of S. pneumoniae using SP LytA F373 primer and Type-it HRM^TM polymerase chain reaction kit in Rotor-Gene Q Thermal Cycler according to the manufacturer's instructions. Specificity of the primers was determined in dry and wet laboratory experiments against diverse related and unrelated microbial pathogens by HRMA and on DNA extracted from unspiked clinical samples negative for SP DNA. Sensitivity was determined by calculating lower limit of detection threshold in experiments with spiked samples. The amplicon from spiked experiments was sequenced and analysed through Gene Bank.

Our dry/wet laboratory experiments showed two separate curves and different Tm values indicating certain non-specific amplification by the primer. Basic Local Alignment Search Tool (BLAST) analysis of the amplicon obtained in the spiked experiment showed sequences of human chromosome 20 associated with Homo sapiens protein tyrosine phosphatase, receptor type T gene. The problem was resolved by stopping the reaction at 30^th Ct cycle and observing the Tm values.

Since HRMA is done without a specific probe, one should be aware of non-specific amplifications while using primers for HRMA of human clinical samples.