Development of a Plexor real-time PCR assay for the detection of porcine circovirus type 2.

A novel, real-time PCR system for the detection of porcine circovirus type 2 (PCV2) was developed. The system employed Plexor technology and detected 10(8)-10(1) copies per reaction of PCV2 DNA within a recombinant plasmid. The examination of clinical material showed consistent diagnostic sensitivity when samples contained more than 10(3) viral copies per reaction. Specificity of Plexor real-time PCR was confirmed using the porcine viruses PCV1, PRRSV, CSFV, TTSuV1 and TTSuV2 employing the melting curve analysis of PCR products. The low values of coefficient of variation in the intra- (1.74%) and inter-assay (2.41%) analysis suggested that the assay was a highly reproducible. The Plexor real-time PCR was compared with three other real-time PCR systems (SYBR Green, TaqMan, LUX) with conclusion that it can be used as a method of choice for the detection and quantitation of PCV2.