Table 2. qPCR details and efficiencies of the 18S rRNA, varATS, and TARE-2 assays.
| Assay | Slope | Efficiency | Intercept a | R 2 | Platform | Amplicon Length b | Amplified Copy Numbers in Genome |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 18S rRNA | −3.63 | 88.5% | 41.09 | 1.0 | TaqMan | 221 bp | 3 |
| varATS | −3.63 | 88.6% | 34.50 | 1.0 | TaqMan | 65 bp | <59 c |
| TARE-2 | −3.75 | 84.7% | 32.08 | 0.97 | SYBR Green | 93 bp | <250–280 c |
aIntercept equals the C t value of the DNA equivalent of five parasites added to the qPCR reaction.
bLength of consensus sequence.
cPolymorphism in primer binding sites likely does not permit efficient amplification of all genomic copies. Number of target sequences present in parasite genomes from field samples cannot be determined in absence of the respective genome data.