(A) Schematic representation of the genotype specific banding patterns amplified by mPCR: (lane 1) E. granulosus s.s. (G1/G2/G3), (lane 2) E. equinus (G4), (lane 3) E. ortleppi (G5), (lane 4) E. canadensis (G6/G7), (lane 5) E. canadensis (G8/G10), (lane 6) E. multilocularis and (lane 7) E. vogeli. The product sizes are specified in bp and the corresponding genes are shown in Table 1. (B) Result of a mPCR using 5 ng of purified template DNA of the known Echinococcus species described above (lanes 1–7) visualized on a 2% agarose gel. The target of 1232 bp is specific for the Echinococcus genus and is also amplified for E. multilocularis (lane 6) and E. vogeli (lane 7). The 110 bp band allows specific detection of E. granulosus complex members (lanes 1–5). All bands between 1232 bp and 110 bp specifically detected one E. granulosus complex species/genotype and showed no cross-reactivity with other members. (C) Specificity test of the mPCR for the genus Echinococcus and other closely related cestodes of the family; E. granulosus (G1/G2/G3) (lane 1), E. multilocularis (lane 2), E. vogeli (lane 3), T. saginata (lane 4), T. solium (lane 5), T. crassiceps (lane 6), T. taeniaformis (lane 7) and T. pisiformis (lane 8). The expected banding pattern was observed for E. granulosus (G1/G2/G3) (lane 1), E. multilocularis (lane 2) and E. vogeli (lane 3) and no PCR products were detected for the Taenia samples. N: PCR-negative control (ddH2O). M: 100-bp DNA ladder (Promega).