Abstract
Fungal DNA is present at very low loads in clinical specimens. Molecular detection by amplification assays generally is a challenge because of a potentially multiple input of contaminating DNA from exogenous sources. Besides airborne, handling and cross-contamination, materials and reagents used in the molecular laboratory can contain microbial DNA which is a long underestimated potential source of false positive results. In this contribution decontamination procedures of materials and reagents and the selection of certified microbial DNA-free components for sample collection, DNA extraction, and PCR amplification are discussed with respect to the aim of building up a reliable molecular system for the diagnosis of fungal organisms at the limit of detection.
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Acknowledgement
The work was supported by the European Union, FP7-HEALTH-2013-INNOVATION-1, project ID 602125: Optimized Diagnostics for Improved Treatment Stratification in Invasive Fungal Diseases (FUNGITECT).
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Lorenz, M.G., Lustig, M., Linow, M. (2017). Fungal-Grade Reagents and Materials for Molecular Analysis. In: Lion, T. (eds) Human Fungal Pathogen Identification. Methods in Molecular Biology, vol 1508. Humana Press, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-6515-1_6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-6515-1_6
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