Qualitative and quantitative detection of microbial nucleic acids

1. A method for simultaneously detecting and quantifying a microbial nucleic acid in a biological sample, the method comprising:

a) providing a reaction mixture comprising:

a control nucleic acid,

one or more primer pairs that hybridize to distinct sequence portions of the microbial nucleic acid and to distinct sequence portions of the control nucleic acid, and

two or more probes that hybridize to each of the sequences amplified by the one or more primer pairs, wherein the microbial nucleic acid and the control nucleic acid hybridize to different probes;

b) adding the biological sample to the reaction mixture;

c) performing one or more cycling steps, wherein each cycling step comprises:

an amplifying step comprising producing one or more amplification products derived from the microbial nucleic acid if present in the sample and producing an amplification product derived from the control nucleic acid, and

a hybridizing step comprising hybridizing the amplification products with the two or more probes, wherein the two or more probes are each labeled with a donor fluorescent moiety and a corresponding acceptor fluorescent moiety and each of the two or more probes carries a different fluorescent moiety dye; and

d) qualitatively detecting and quantitatively measuring fluorescent signals generated in step c),

wherein the fluorescent signals generated by the control nucleic acid and the microbial nucleic acid are proportional to their concentration and are indicative of the detection and quantification of the microbial nucleic acid,

wherein the fluorescent signal from the control nucleic acid is indicative of an amplification occurring in the amplifying step even in the absence of the fluorescent signals from the microbial nucleic acid and

wherein the fluorescent signal from the control nucleic acid is analyzed at a first fluorescence threshold to obtain a quantitative result and at a second fluorescence threshold to obtain qualitative result; thereby simultaneously detecting and quantifying the microbial nucleic acid in the biological sample.

2. A method for simultaneously detecting and quantifying a microbial nucleic acid in a biological sample, said method comprising:

a) providing a reaction mixture comprising:

a first and a second control nucleic acid in different concentrations, one or more primer pairs that hybridize to distinct sequence portions of the microbial nucleic acid and to distinct sequence portions of the first and the second control nucleic acid, and

three or more probes that hybridize to each of the sequences amplified by the one or more primer pairs, wherein the microbial nucleic acid and the first and second control nucleic acid each hybridize to different probes;

b) adding the biological sample to the reaction mixture;

c) performing one or more cycling steps, wherein each cycling step comprises:

an amplifying step comprising producing one or more amplification products derived from the microbial nucleic acid if present in the sample and producing an amplification product derived from the first control nucleic acid and an amplification product derived from the second control nucleic acid, and

a hybridizing step comprising hybridizing the amplification products with the three or more probes, wherein the three or more probes are each labeled with a donor fluorescent moiety and a corresponding acceptor fluorescent moiety and each of the three or more probes carries a different fluorescent moiety dye; and

d) qualitatively detecting and quantitatively measuring fluorescent signals generated in step c),

wherein the fluorescent signals generated by the first control nucleic acid and the microbial nucleic acid are proportional to their concentration and are indicative of the detection and quantification of the microbial nucleic acid,

wherein the fluorescent signal from the second control nucleic acid is indicative of an amplification occurring in the amplifying step even in the absence of the fluorescent signals from the microbial nucleic acid and

wherein a first fluorescent signal from the first control nucleic acid is analyzed to obtain a quantitative result and a second fluorescent signal from the second control nucleic acid is analyzed to obtain a qualitative result;

thereby simultaneously detecting and quantifying a microbial nucleic acid in a biological sample.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the first control nucleic acid is a quantitative standard nucleic acid and the second control nucleic acid is a qualitative internal control nucleic acid.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the amplifying step employs a polymerase enzyme having 5′ to 3′ exonuclease activity.

5. The method of claim 2 , wherein the first control nucleic acid is present in a concentration of 20-5000 times the limit of detection of the microbial nucleic acid, and wherein the second control nucleic acid is present in a concentration of 1-25 times the limit of detection of the microbial nucleic acid.

6. The method of claim 2 , wherein the first and the second control nucleic acid are provided within one control reagent.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising: in step d) determining the quantity of the microbial nucleic acid in the biological sample by comparison of the fluorescent signals generated by the microbial nucleic acid and the control nucleic acid.

8. The method of claim 1 , further comprising: in step d) detecting the microbial nucleic acid in the biological sample by comparison of the fluorescent signals generated by the microbial nucleic acid and the control nucleic acid.

9. The method of claim 2 , further comprising: in step d) determining the quantity of the microbial nucleic acid in the biological sample by comparison of the fluorescent signals generated by the microbial nucleic acid and the first control nucleic acid.

10. The method of claim 2 , further comprising: in step d) detecting the microbial nucleic acid in the biological sample by comparison of the fluorescent signals generated by the microbial nucleic acid and the second control nucleic acid.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein the second fluorescence threshold is higher than the first fluorescence threshold.