DETECTION OF TOXOPLASMA GONDII BY PCR AND QUANTITATIVE PCR WITH HIGH SPECIFICTY AND LOWER LIMIT OF DETECTION

Toxoplasmosis is one of the important zoonotic protozoan diseases, which can occur in both animals and humans. It is a leading cause of abortion in newborn, blindness and brain abscesses in immunodeficient patients. Traditional molecular assays often are difficult to perform, especially for early diagnosis of Toxoplasma gondii infection. The objective of this study was to develop and evaluate PCR and quantitative (q)PCR assay with a lower limit of detection and specificity targeting multi-copy B1 of T. gondii. The detection limit of T. gondii DNA by both PCR and qPCR was 10 ag, equivalent to 0.01 tachyzoiteht/mu l The specificity of qPCR was confirmed using genomic DNA from Entamoeba histolytica, Escherichia coli, Neospora caninum, Cryptosporidium spp, Cryptococcus neoformans, Giardia duodenalis, Klebsiella spp, Mycobacterium tuberculosis, cat, dog, swine, cow, and humans.