Development of a real-time fluorescence resonance energy transfer PCR to identify the main pathogenic Campylobacter spp.

A simple real-time fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) PCR, targeting the gyrA gene outside the quinolone resistance-determining region, was developed to identify Campylobacter jejuni and Campylobacter coli. These species were distinguished easily, as the corresponding melting points showed a difference of 15°C. A second assay using the same biprobe and PCR conditions, but different PCR primers, was also developed to identify the less frequently encountered Campylobacter fetus. These assays were applied to 807 Campylobacter isolates from clinical specimens. Compared to phenotypic identification tests, the FRET assay yielded the same results for all except three of the isolates. Analysis by standard PCR and 16S rDNA sequencing demonstrated that two of these isolates were hippurate-negative C. jejuni strains, resulting in an erroneous phenotypic identification, while the third was an isolate of C. coli that contained a gyrA gene typical of C. jejuni, resulting in misidentification by the FRET assay. The FRET assay identified more isolates than standard PCR, which failed to yield amplification products with c. 10% of isolates. It was concluded that the FRET assays were rapid, reliable, reproducible and relatively cost-efficient, as they require only one biprobe and can be performed directly on boiled isolates.