Molecular detection and quantification of enterococci

Abstract

A primer pair and probe for the large subunit ribosomal RNA gene of enterococci for use in a real-time nucleic acid sequence based amplification (NASBA) assay.

1 . A method for quantifying  Enterococci  in a sample of saline water, said method comprising: performing NASBA amplification, wherein said amplifying step comprises contacting said sample with a pair of primers to produce an amplification product, wherein said pair of primers comprises a first primer and a second primer, wherein said first primer comprises SEQ ID NO:1, and said second primer comprises SEQ ID NO: 2. 
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1  wherein said second primer includes a T7 promoter region comprising SEQ ID NO: 3. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1  further comprising a probe, said probe comprising SEQ ID NO: 4.