Table 2.

Comparison of seven assays for kdr genotyping based on specialist equipment required, cost, safety, simplicity of protocol and speed of method. Capital cost was calculated for all assays and is correct at the time of submission. Consumable/running cost was calculated for all assays except for the HOLA and SSOP-ELISA where the running cost listed was obtained from the original report of the method.

	TaqMan	TaqMan Endpoint	HRM	AS-PCR	SSOP-ELISA	PCR Dot Blot	HOLA
Specialist equipment required	Real-time PCR machine	PCR thermocyler Fluorimeter	High-spec real time PCR machine	PCR thermocycler Gel electrophoresis and imaging equipment	PCR thermocycler Shaking incubator Multichannel pipette *optional ELISA plate reader	PCR thermocycler Shaking incubator Multichannel pipette	PCR thermocycler Multichannel pipette *optional ELISA plate reader
Capital outlay cost (for equipment above given in US$)	96 well $25 000 48 well $19 000	$17 800	$50 000	$10 000	$7600 *optional ELISA plate reader add $5000	$7600	$5500 *optional ELISA plate reader add $5000
Hazardous chemicals	-	-	-	Ethidium bromide	TMAC, H2SO4, SDS	SDS	SDS
Protocol run time	1 hr 45 mins	2 hrs	1 hr 35 mins	~4 hrs 30 mins	~5 hrs 30 mins	~16–18 hrs	~6 hrs 30 mins
Number of steps	1	2	1	2	17	16	15
Primers/Probes required (for detection of 3 kdr alleles)	2 PCR primers 3 fluorescently labelled probes	2 PCR primers 3 fluorescently labelled probes	2 PCR primers	5 PCR primers	2 PCR primers (one biotin labelled) 3 SSOPs (digoxigenin labelled)	2 PCR primers 3 SSOPs (digoxigenin labelled)	2 PCR primers 2 reporter primers (5'phosphorylation and 3'fluorescein labelled) 4 detector primers (biotin labelled)
Number of tubes/wells/membranes required per sample	2	2	1	2	3	3	4
Running cost (per sample for three alleles)	$1.72	$1.72	$0.62	$0.92	sim $1	$1.6	$1.74