Table 1.

Primers and probes^a

Primer or probe	Sequence (5′-3′)	Target in assay	Position in reference sequence
Primers
Babesia 8 forward	CAGGGAGGTAGTGACAAGAAATAACA	B. microti DNA and both control plasmids	417–442
Babesia 8 reverse	GGTTTAGATTCCCATCATTCCAAT	B. microti DNA and both control plasmids	465–488
Probes
Babesia microti 8	6FAM-TACAGGGCTTAAAGTCT-MGBNFQ	B. microti DNA, genomic and plasmid	444–461
BBIC	VIC-CTACAACTTCAACAGCTCGTA-MGBNFQ	Bicoid plasmid	2971–2992

^aThe full sequence of the inhibition control insert was as follows: CAGGGAGGTAGTGACAAGAAATAACACTGTCGCGTCCTGGTCAAGGACGAACCGGAGGCCGACTACAACTTCAACAGCTCGTACTACATGCGATCGGGAATGTCTGGCGCCACTGCATCGGCATCCGCTGTGGCCCGAGGCGCTGCCTCGCCGGGCTCCGAGGTCTACGAGCCATTAACACCCAAGAATGACGAAAGTCCGAGTCTGATTGGAATGATGGGAATCTAAACC. This insert was constructed by amplifying bicoid DNA with chimeric forward and reverse primers. Underlining indicates the sequence corresponding to the Babesia primers used in this assay, and boldfacing indicates the 5′ and 3′ termini of the bicoid sequence. The italics indicate the position of the bicoid probe.