TABLE 2.
Spiked feces with serial dilutions of cultured spores from four different microsporidial species after PCR and hybridization with the general microsporidium probe and the specific probe for the respective species compared with Uvitex 2B stain and light microscopy
| Speciesa | Probe | ECL signal (LU) with spore input per g of feces (gene copies per PCR) ofb:
|
R2c | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3.5 × 102 (17) | 3.5 × 103 (1.7 × 102) | 3.5 × 104 (1.7 × 103) | 3.5 × 105 (1.7 × 104) | |||
| E. intestinalis | General | 215 | 3,032 | 13,527 | 22,266 | 0.96 |
| Specific | 234 | 4,996 | 17,642 | 35,372 | 0.94 | |
| Uvitex | Neg. | Neg. | Sporadic | Some | ||
| E. cuniculi | General | 562 | 4,277 | 26,987 | 27,967 | 0.87 |
| Specific | 564 | 4,305 | 35,538 | 35,786 | 0.84 | |
| Uvitex | Neg. | Neg. | Sporadic | Few | ||
| E. hellem | General | 568 | 4,146 | 4,972 | 30,171 | 0.72 |
| Specific | 650 | 4,951 | 6,492 | 45,498 | 0.71 | |
| Uvitex | Neg. | Neg. | Neg. | Sporadic | ||
| V. corneae | General | 280 | 3,780 | 8,077 | 13,523 | 0.99 |
| Uvitex | Neg. | Neg. | Neg. | Sporadic | ||
a
E. bieneusi spores were not available, as they cannot be maintained in long-term culture.
b
Values represent ECL signal expressed in LU.
c
Correlation (squared Pearson's correlation coefficient) between log10-transformed input copy number and ECL signal.