Skip to main content
PMC home page
Journal of Clinical Pathology logoLink to Journal of Clinical Pathology
. 1994 Apr;47(4):353–356. doi: 10.1136/jcp.47.4.353

Polymerase chain reaction for screening clinical isolates of corynebacteria for the production of diphtheria toxin.

M J Pallen 1, A J Hay 1, L H Puckey 1, A Efstratiou 1
PMCID: PMC501941  PMID: 8027375

Abstract

AIMS--To assess the performance of the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) when used to screen rapidly large numbers of corynebacteria for toxin production; and to determine the incidence of false positive PCR results with non-toxigenic Corynebacterium diphtheriae isolates. METHODS--Eighty seven recent British isolates of corynebacteria were assayed by PCR. All isolates were assayed from both blood and tellurite agar within a five day period. Thirty three non-toxigenic isolates of C diphtheriae from six countries were also tested by PCR and by the Elek immunodiffusion assay. RESULTS--There was complete concordance between the results of PCR and traditional methods on the recent British isolates, with one exception: an Elek positive "C ulcerans" isolate, which was PCR positive from tellurite but not from blood agar. One of the thirty three (3%) non-toxigenic isolates of C diphtheriae was PCR positive. CONCLUSIONS--These results suggest that PCR compares favourably with traditional methods for the detection of toxigenic corynebacteria and that it represents a powerful new tool in the diagnosis of an old disease.

Full text

PDF
356

Images in this article

355Image
on p.355

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Brooks R., Joynson D. H. ACP Broadsheet no 125: July 1990. Bacteriological diagnosis of diphtheria. J Clin Pathol. 1990 Jul;43(7):576–580. doi: 10.1136/jcp.43.7.576. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Efstratiou A., George R. C., Begg N. T. Non-toxigenic Corynebacterium diphtheriae var gravis in England. Lancet. 1993 Jun 19;341(8860):1592–1593. doi: 10.1016/0140-6736(93)90727-x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Farizo K. M., Strebel P. M., Chen R. T., Kimbler A., Cleary T. J., Cochi S. L. Fatal respiratory disease due to Corynebacterium diphtheriae: case report and review of guidelines for management, investigation, and control. Clin Infect Dis. 1993 Jan;16(1):59–68. doi: 10.1093/clinids/16.1.59. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Greenfield L., Bjorn M. J., Horn G., Fong D., Buck G. A., Collier R. J., Kaplan D. A. Nucleotide sequence of the structural gene for diphtheria toxin carried by corynebacteriophage beta. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1983 Nov;80(22):6853–6857. doi: 10.1073/pnas.80.22.6853. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Groman N., Cianciotto N., Bjorn M., Rabin M. Detection and expression of DNA homologous to the tox gene in nontoxinogenic isolates of Corynebacterium diphtheriae. Infect Immun. 1983 Oct;42(1):48–56. doi: 10.1128/iai.42.1.48-56.1983. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Kaczorek M., Delpeyroux F., Chenciner N., Streeck R. E., Murphy J. R., Boquet P., Tiollais P. Nucleotide sequence and expression of the diphtheria tox228 gene in Escherichia coli. Science. 1983 Aug 26;221(4613):855–858. doi: 10.1126/science.6348945. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Lumio J., Jahkola M., Vuento R., Haikala O., Eskola J. Diphtheria after visit to Russia. Lancet. 1993 Jul 3;342(8862):53–54. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Pallen M. J., Puckey L. H., Wren B. W. A rapid, simple method for detecting PCR failure. PCR Methods Appl. 1992 Aug;2(1):91–92. doi: 10.1101/gr.2.1.91. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Pallen M. J. Rapid screening for toxigenic Corynebacterium diphtheriae by the polymerase chain reaction. J Clin Pathol. 1991 Dec;44(12):1025–1026. doi: 10.1136/jcp.44.12.1025. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Ratti G., Rappuoli R., Giannini G. The complete nucleotide sequence of the gene coding for diphtheria toxin in the corynephage omega (tox+) genome. Nucleic Acids Res. 1983 Oct 11;11(19):6589–6595. doi: 10.1093/nar/11.19.6589. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Snell J. J., Demello J. V., Gardner P. S., Kwantes W., Brooks R. Detection of toxin production by Corynebacterium diphtheriae: results of a trial organised as part of the United Kingdom National External Microbiological Quality Assessment Scheme. J Clin Pathol. 1984 Jul;37(7):796–799. doi: 10.1136/jcp.37.7.796. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Xamoterol in severe heart failure. The Xamoterol in Severe Heart Failure Study Group. Lancet. 1990 Jul 7;336(8706):1–6. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Journal of Clinical Pathology are provided here courtesy of BMJ Publishing Group

RESOURCES