Figure 2.

Plasmodium falciparum real-time quantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) reagents. The full-length P. falciparum A-type 18S rRNA and in vitro transcribed (IVT) synthetic RNAs corresponding to the 18S ribosomal RNA (rRNA) amplicon and a competitor RNA with a mutated internal region can all be amplified with the same common PCR primers and all hybridize to the same FITC-labeled donor probe. An LC610-labeled acceptor probe binds to the native 18S rRNA sequence present in the full-length sequence and IVT RNA sequence, whereas a unique LC705-labeled acceptor probe for the competitor RNA is used to bind the mutated region. In this way, competitive amplification is achieved with minimal multiplexing.