SABS' new 24-hour turnaround in pathogen testing

摘要

Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) technology in micro testing, as now offered by SABS Commercial Western Cape, offers major cost savings to the food and beverage industries. IN 2005 the microbiology laboratory of SABS Commercial Western Cape set out toimprove its turnaround time on microbiological tests by investing in real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) technology. The real-time PCR system is based on the detection and quantization of a fluorescent reporter that increases in direct proportion to the amount of PCR product in a reaction. By recording the amount of fluorescence emission of each cycle, it is possible to monitor the PCR reaction during exponential phase where the first significant increase in the amount of PCR product correlates tothe initial amount of target template. The higher the starting copy number of the nucleic acid target, the sooner a significant increase in fluorescence is observed. A significant increase in fluorescence above the baseline value measuring during the 3-15 cycles indicates the detection of accumulated PCR product.