Application of Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) in Detection of Microbial Aerosols

Abstract

Accompanying rapid social and economic development, increasing numbers of industrial activities have resulted in the release of a variety of pathogenic microorganisms into the air, and the detection of these microbial aerosols has become a research topic of great interest. Presently, microbial aerosols can be detected by the plate count method, direct microscopic examination, spectrographic method, biosensor method, and by molecular biological methods. Among the latter group, real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) not only has high specificity, simplicity, and convenience in operation, but also provides quantitative DNA or RNA data. Thus, it should be readily applicable to the detection of microbial aerosols. In this article, the use of real-time PCR in the domain of microbial aerosols was reviewed. Problems with real-time PCR that require resolution, and its suitability for detecting microbial aerosols, were analyzed.

Keywords:

• microbial aerosol
• real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR)
• quantitative analysis
• application prospect

Acknowledgement

This work was supported by Natural Science Foundation of Shandong Province (ZR2011CL013), and Natural Science Foundation of Taishan Medical University (2011ZR058).