A rapid molecular approach to determining the occurrence of pathogen indicators in compost
An accurate method for enumerating pathogen indicators, such as Escherichia coli (E. coli), and Salmonella spp. is important for assessing the safety of compost samples. This study aimed to determine the occurrence of pathogen indicators in compost samples by using a molecular approach known as Poly...
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| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Conference or Workshop Item |
| Published: |
2009
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://eprints.uthm.edu.my/5334/ http://eprints.uthm.edu.my/5334/1/150_o_Sunar.pdf |
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| Summary: | An accurate method for enumerating pathogen indicators, such as Escherichia
coli (E. coli), and Salmonella spp. is important for assessing the safety of compost samples.
This study aimed to determine the occurrence of pathogen indicators in compost samples by
using a molecular approach known as Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR). The DNA sample
was extracted from sewage sludge compost. The specificity of the probes and primers at the
species level were verified by performing NCBI-BLAST2 (Basic Local Alignment Search
Tool). Primers that target the gadAB gene for E.coli and invA gene for Salmonella spp. were
selected which produce fragment lengths around 670bp and 285bp respectively. The primers
were tested against bacterial cultures of both species and produced a strong signal band of the
expected fragment length. It provided results within 6 hours which is relatively rapid
compared to conventional culturing techniques. The other advantages of PCR are shown to be
its high sensitivity, and high specificity |
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