• 식물병연구
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• 제27권3호
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• pp.120-127
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• 2021

식물 바이러스는 작물 수확량에 상당한 손실을 일으키고 작물 생산을 지속적으로 위협하여 세계 식량 안보에 심각한 위협이 된다. 그 중 tomato spotted wilt virus (TSWV)는 주로 원예작물을 감염시키는 가장 위협적인 식물 바이러스로 넓은 기주 범위를 가진다. Reverse-transcription quantitative real-time PCR (RT-qPCR)은 TSWV의 민감한 검출을 위해 널리 사용되고 있지만 표준화의 어려움으로 인해 유용성이 감소한다. 따라서 본 연구에서는 TSWV 검출을 위해 민감하고 정확한 reverse transcription droplet digital polymerase chain reaction (RT-ddPCR)을 확립하였다. TSWV 검출에 대한 RT-qPCR 및 RT-ddPCR의 민감도를 비교하였고, TSWV에 대한 RT-ddPCR의 특이성 분석은 고추에서 주로 발생하는 바이러스 및 음성 대조군에서 특이성을 확인한 결과 증폭되지 않았다. RT-ddPCR 및 RTqPCR에 의해 측정된 TSWV의 선형회귀곡선은 모두 높은 선형성을 나타냈지만, RT-ddPCR 분석이 10배 이상 더 민감하고 더 낮은 TSWV의 copy 수를 검출할 수 있었다. 종합적으로, 우리의 연구 결과는 RT-ddPCR이 TSWV 검출에 대해 높은 민감도와 특이성을 제공하고 낮은 농도의 현장 시료에서 TSWV 검출하는 데 적합하다는 것을 보여준다.

• The Plant Pathology Journal
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• 제38권4호
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• pp.417-422
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• 2022

Apple stem grooving virus (ASGV) is a destructive viral pathogen of pome fruit trees that causes significant losses to fruit production worldwide. Obtaining ASGV-free propagation materials is essential to reduce economic losses, and accurate and sensitive detection methods to screen ASGV-free plantlets during in vitro propagation are urgently necessary. In this study, ASGV was sensitively and accurately quantified from in vitro propagated apple plantlets using a reverse transcription droplet digital polymerase chain reaction (RT-ddPCR) assay. The optimized RT-ddPCR assay was specific to other apple viruses, and was at least 10-times more sensitive than RT-real-time quantitative PCR assay. Furthermore, the optimized RT-ddPCR assay was validated for the detection and quantification of ASGV using micropropagated apple plantlet samples. This RT-ddPCR assay can be utilized for the accurate quantitative detection of ASGV infection in ASGV-free certification programs, and can thus contribute to the production of ASGV-free apple trees.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• 제31권3호
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• pp.358-367
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• 2021

The World Health Organization (WHO) has declared the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) as an international health emergency. Current diagnostic tests are based on the reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) method, which is the gold standard test that involves the amplification of viral RNA. However, the RT-qPCR assay has limitations in terms of sensitivity and quantification. In this study, we tested both qPCR and droplet digital PCR (ddPCR) to detect low amounts of viral RNA. The cycle threshold (CT) of the viral RNA by RT-PCR significantly varied according to the sequences of the primer and probe sets with in vitro transcript (IVT) RNA or viral RNA as templates, whereas the copy number of the viral RNA by ddPCR was effectively quantified with IVT RNA, cultured viral RNA, and RNA from clinical samples. Furthermore, the clinical samples were assayed via both methods, and the sensitivity of the ddPCR was determined to be equal to or more than that of the RT-qPCR. However, the ddPCR assay is more suitable for determining the copy number of reference materials. These findings suggest that the qPCR assay with the ddPCR defined reference materials could be used as a highly sensitive and compatible diagnostic method for viral RNA detection.