Fricke, S.S.FrickeFricke, C.C.FrickeOelkrug, C.C.OelkrugBlatz, R.R.BlatzSchönfelder, U.U.SchönfelderNiederwieser, D.D.NiederwieserHilger, N.N.HilgerRuhnke, M.M.RuhnkeRodloff, A.C.A.C.Rodloff2022-03-042022-03-042012https://publica.fraunhofer.de/handle/publica/22913210.1111/j.1439-0507.2011.02161.xAn early diagnosis of an invasive fungal infection is essential for the initiation of a specific antifungal therapy and to avoid unnecessary discontinuation of a baseline therapy for haematological or oncological diseases. A real-time PCR assay for the detection and strain identification of Aspergillus species from culture strains was evaluated. DNA preparation was evaluated in contaminated culture media, urine and serum. A LightCycler PCR to differentiate various Aspergillus species was established. A real-time PCR assay for the detection of Aspergillus species was improved and was able to detect and differentiate medically important Aspergillus spp. The sensitivity of the test was <10 plasmid equivalents/assay. The real-time PCR assay is a useful tool for the rapid identification of Aspergillus species and might be useful as an early diagnostic tool to detect an invasive fungal infection. A real-time PCR protocol was improved by generating plasmid standards, additiona l generation of melting curves for species identification and the correlation between the melting temperature and the nucleotide exchanges within the used 18S rRNA gene region.en610A real-time PCR for the detection and characterisation of Aspergillus speciesjournal article