TABLE 3.

 Specificities of primers and probes for detection of 16S rDNA by real-time PCR in homologous sample or as part of a mixture of DNAs

Bacterium	Amt of DNA detected (mean ± SEM %)a
	Homologous DNA	Mixed DNA
Prevotella	100.0 ± 5.8	98.1 ± 10.7
P. melaninogenica	100.0 ± 13.8	105.2 ± 19.0
Fusobacteriumb	100.0 ± 3.5	100.6 ± 4.3
M. micros	100.0 ± 2.5	103.6 ± 1.8
P. endodontalis	100.0 ± 8.0	92.4 ± 8.9
P. gingivalis	100.0 ± 0.5	100.6 ± 2.7

^aThe data were determined from triplicate assays with P. melaninogenica DNA in the range of 829 fg to 8.29 ng as the standard. No significant differences between the estimate of the amount of DNA when it was the sole source or was part of a mixture of the five DNAs were found by the t test.\

^bThe Fusobacterium-specific primer and probe set designed for the detection of F. nucleatum would also detect F. periodonticum, F. alocis, and F. simiae if they were present in a sample.