MULTIPLEX PCR FOR AVIAN PATHOGENIC MYCOPLASMAS

Mycoplasma infections are of great concern in avian medicine, because they cause economic losses in commercial poultry production. A multipl ex polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was optimized to simultaneously det ect four pathogenic species of avian mycoplasmas. Four sets of oligonu cleotide primers specific for Mycoplasma gallisepticum (MG), M. synovi ae (MS), M. meleagridis (MM) and M. iowae (MI) were used in the rest. By using agarose gel electrophoreses for detection of the PCR-amplifie d DNA products, the sensitivity of detection was between 1 pg for MC, 1 pg for MS, 100 fg for MM and 100 pg for MI after 35 cycles of PCR. S imilar sensitivity of these primers was achieved with broth cultures o f these four organisms. (C) 1997 Academic Press Limited.