Today molecular methods are indispensable in diagnostic microbiology. Several technologies aim to detect pathogens, virulence factor or resistance genes by identifying specific DNA/RNA sequences. Advantages compared to culture based methods are the comparatively short time to results, detection of non-culturable or slow growing pathogens, and specific detection of virulence marker genes. Drawbacks include falsenegative results due to variation of target structures and the relatively high costs.
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