Advanced Techniques in Diagnostic Microbiology

260 R. P. Podzorski, M. Loeffelholz, and R. T. Hayden
identification specificity intrinsic to probe-based systems while taking advantage
of technology already available in most clinical labs to allow rapid, unambiguous
signal detection and the potential for automation. The advent of EIA-based molecular
detection systems and the widespread availability of commercially prepared
assays has finally helped propel molecular diagnostics into common use, beyond
the formerly exclusive province of academic and reference laboratories.
Conclusion
Agarose gel electrophoresis, Southern blotting, RFLP, and EIA analysis remain
useful laboratory procedures for detection and characterization of nucleic acid
amplicon. EIA now plays a prominent role as a detection methodology for molecular
diagnostic testing in the clinical lab. Although the other procedures listed
are often not the methods of choice for use in high-volume clinical settings, their
continued value in assay development or in some aspects of clinical testing is indisputable.
In situations where sample throughput is small, amplification targets are
changed frequently, or cost of new molecular diagnostic methods is prohibitive,
these procedures are very practical. Their simplicity, ease of implementation, relative
low cost, and widespread applicability to many nucleic acid detection and/or
characterization problems allow them to maintain a niche even in today’s highly
complex molecular diagnostic laboratory.
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