Non isotopic automatable molecular procedures for the detection of enteroviruses

Five microwell non isotopic hybridization assays, based on colorimetric immunoenzymatic reading, were developed and evaluated for the rapid and automatable detection of enteroviruses. Virus nucleic acids and/or capture probes were covalently bound to microtiter wells, and digoxigenin-11-dUTP was used as label for the detection of hybridized material. Among these procedures, a reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) hybridization assay was the most sensitive, enabling the detection of 10 MPNCU of poliovirus, and offering detection specificity for other enteroviruses, such as coxsackieviruses and echoviruses. The second most sensitive method was a complementary hybridization assay, simultaneously using three detection probes, one from the 5' end and two from the 3' end of poliovirus genome, offering a sensitivity for poliovirus detection of 5 x 10(3) MPNCU.