Figure 2.

Sensitivity of TaqMan Ba-1-GI4 duplex in LightCycler 2.0. Ten-fold serial dilutions of Ames (Panel (A)) or control plasmid carrying GI4 from Bcbva (Panel (B)) were tested in triplicate to establish the limit of detection of B. anthracis Ba-1 and Bcbva GI4 chromosomal markers. Ba-1 displayed a sensitivity of 100 fg with inconsistent amplification at the 10-fg level (Panel (A)). About 17.7 copies of pGI4 were needed for reliable and reproducible amplification of GI4. The standard curve plots displayed R² and slopes values as follows: Ba-1, R² = 0.998, slope = −2.989; GI4, R² = 0.9972, slope = −3.313.