mutations in the dystrophin gene cause duchenne muscular dystrophy (dmd), the most commonly inherited neuromuscular disorder, and becker muscular dystrophy (bmd), the milder allelic form of the disease. the mutation spectrum within this gene is unusual in that deletion of one or more exons are found in ~65% of cases. since no effective treatment is so far available for these diseases, the ident...

ABSTRACT A real-time fluorescent polymerase chain reaction (PCR) detection method for the sudden oak death pathogen Phytophthora ramorum was developed based on mitochondrial DNA sequence with an ABI Prism 7700 (TaqMan) Sequence Detection System. Primers and probes were also developed for detecting P. pseudosyringae, a newly described species that causes symptoms similar to P. ramorum on certain...

The development of sensitive, rapid, and accurate diagnostic methods for vivax malaria is essential for the effective control of malaria in the Republic of Korea, where vivax malaria patients usually show low parasitemia. In this study, a TaqMan-based real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) method was established and compared with other PCR-based assays, including nested PCR, loop-mediated is...

Spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) is an autosomal recessive disease caused, in about 95% of SMA cases, by homozygous deletion of the survival motor neuron 1 (SMN1) gene or its conversion to the highly homologous SMN2 gene. The molecular diagnosis of SMA is usually carried out by a PCR-Restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) approach. However, this approach is not useful for identification o...

Accurate and reliable quantification of the abundance of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) molecules, both wild-type and those harbouring pathogenic mutations, is important not only for understanding the progression of mtDNA disease but also for evaluating novel therapeutic approaches. A clear understanding of the sensitivity of mtDNA measurement assays under different experimental conditions is theref...

background and objectives:hbv and htlv-i are life threatening infectious agents in patients who receive blood and blood products. although serological methods have been proved to be useful, detection of these viruses has remained a challengingissue due to the many obstacles. by the advent of nucleic acid testing methods, especially in multiplex format, more precise detection is possible.the obj...