Method Description

Respiratory, swabs, stools, tissues, plasma, and urine samples are processed according to specimen source. Viral nucleic acid is extracted by the MagNA Pure automated instrument (Roche Applied Science). Primers and fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) probes target a relatively conserved 185 base-pair region of the adenovirus penton gene. The LightCycler instrument (Roche Applied Science) amplifies and monitors the development of target nucleic acid sequences after the annealing step during polymerase chain reaction (PCR) cycling. This automated PCR system rapidly detects amplicon development through stringent air-controlled temperature cycling in capillary cuvettes. The detection of amplified products is based on the FRET principle. For FRET product detection, a hybridization probe with a donor fluorophore, fluorescein, on the 3'-end is excited by an external light source and emits light that is absorbed by a second hybridization probe with an acceptor fluorophore, LC-Red 640, at the 5'-end. The acceptor fluorophore then emits a light of a different wavelength that can be measured with a signal that is proportional to the amount of specific PCR product.(Unpublished Mayo method)