01483nas a2200325   4500000000100000008004100001260001300042653001800055653001600073653003200089653001100121653001200132653002800144653002500172653003000197653001900227653002400246653002400270100001400294700001400308700001600322700001100338700001300349700001300362245005900375300001000434490000800444520069100452022001401143       1994                            d  c1994 Oct10aBase Sequence10aDNA Primers10aEvaluation Studies as Topic10aHumans10aleprosy10aMolecular Sequence Data10aMycobacterium leprae10apolymerase chain reaction10aRNA, Bacterial10aRNA, Ribosomal, 16S10aSpecies Specificity1 aRichter E1 aDuchrow M1 aSchlüter C1 aHahn M1 aFlad H D1 aGerdes J00aDetection of Mycobacterium leprae by three-primer PCR.  a351-30 v1913 a<p>Recently, polymerase chain reaction has been introduced for the species-specific assessment of Mycobacterium leprae (1). To avoid Southern blotting techniques using radioactively labelled oligonucleotide probes, the aim of this study was to establish a three primer-based single-step PCR technique. Using primers designed for this purpose we amplified a part of the gene encoding for the 16S ribosomal RNA of slowly growing mycobacteria. Due to the species-specific antisense primer a second, smaller fragment specific for M. leprae was amplified. Our results show that the employment of a second antisense primer in the PCR may be a substitution for Southern blot hybridization.</p>  a0171-2985