UV treatment at 4.8 × 103 μJ/cm2 to viable, killed, and a mixture of viable and killed cells of Escherichia coli MTCC 3221 for 3 min. UV treatment at 4.8 × 103 μJ/cm2 for 3 min resulted in complete inhibition of DNA amplification from killed cells by qPCR (a). Amplification curves for PMA-treated viable, killed, and a mixture of viable and killed cells of Escherichia coli MTCC 3221 at 4.8 × 103 μJ/cm2 for 3 min (b). Each bar represents the average Cq value of a triplicate experiment ± standard deviation. ∆Rn, fluorescence intensity change; NTC, no template control