Molecular probes polymerase chain reaction

The use of molecular probes to track specific microbes in the environment, specifically those not easily cultured, has been recently reviewed (95, 97, 98), The sensitivity of these probes may be further enhanced by using amplification strategies (e.g., polymerase chain reaction or PCR), to amplify segments of DNA from samples obtained from production systems (95, 99), However, gene probes for geosmin or MIB synthesis are not currently available. 

Many different techniques, such as bacteriological culture, DNA staining using fluorochrome and immunological or biochemical methods, are available to detect mycoplasma contamination (see section 1.6). However, none seem to be fully efficient, so a combination of different methods is often necessary. Molecular tools such as hybridization using rDNA gene probes or polymerase chain reaction (PCR) have been developed over the past few years. Several studies using 16S rDNA-based PCR concluded that PCR seems to be a very convenient method for routine detection of cell culture contaminations (Spaepen, 1992 Teyssou, 1993 van Kuppeveld, 1994). 

Nucleic acid-based technologies—DNA probe, ribotyping/molecular typing, and polymerase chain reaction... 

Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) is an in vitro method for enzymatic synthesizing and amplification ofdefined DNA sequences outofamixtureofnucleicacids.PCRgenerates sufficient DNA copies for subsequent molecular analysis. The standard PCR is an endpoint reaction, which produce adequate quantity of the PCR prcxiuct suitable to be identified by size electrophoresis analysis, sequencing or by probe hybridization. 

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