Compositions and methods for amplifying, detecting or quantifying human cytomegalovirus

1. A kit for amplifying a target region of nucleic acid derived from a human cytomegalovirus (CMV) UL56 gene sequence comprising:

(a) a forward primer comprising 20-31 contiguous nucleobases present in SEQ ID NO: 2 and comprising the nucleobase sequence of SEQ ID NO:11;

(b) a reverse primer comprising 23-40 contiguous nucleobases present in SEQ ID NO: 3 and comprising the nucleobase sequence of SEQ ID NO:23; and

(c) a probe oligomer comprising one or more detectable labels, wherein the probe oligomer hybridizes to a CMV amplicon generated by the forward and reverse primers.

2. The kit of claim 1 wherein the forward primer, the reverse primer, or both the forward primer and the reverse primer comprise at least one modified nucleotide selected from the group consisting of: 2′-O-methyl modified nucleotide, a 2′-fluoro modified nucleotide, and a 5′-methyl cytosine.

3. The kit of claim 1 , wherein:

(a) the forward primer comprises the nucleobase sequence of SEQ ID NO: 11, SEQ ID NO: 13, or SEQ ID NO: 19; and

(b) the reverse primer comprises the nucleobase sequence of SEQ ID NO: 23, SEQ ID NO: 29, SEQ ID NO: 31, or SEQ ID NO: 47.

4. The kit of claim 3 , wherein:

(a) an RNA polymerase promoter sequence is linked to the 5′ end of the forward primer or the reverse primer;

(b) a T7 RNA polymerase promoter sequence is linked to the 5′ end of the forward primer or the reverse primer; or

(c) a T7 RNA polymerase promoter sequence having the nucleobase sequence of SEQ ID NO: 78 is linked to the 5′ end of the forward rimer or the reverse rimer.

5. The kit of claim 4 , wherein the reverse primer comprises the nucleobase sequence of SEQ ID NO: 28, SEQ ID NO: 30, or SEQ ID NO: 46.

6. The kit of claim 1 , wherein the probe oligomer comprises:

(a) a nucleobase sequence of SEQ ID NO: 51 or SEQ ID NO: 52, or a nucleobase sequence of SEQ ID NO: 51 or SEQ ID NO: 52 wherein one or more uracil nucleotides are substituted for thymine nucleotides; or

(b) a nucleotide sequence comprising 24-35 contiguous nucleobases that hybridizes to SEQ ID NO: 81.

7. The kit of claim 6 , wherein the probe oligomer comprises at least one modified nucleotide selected from the group consisting of: a 2′-O-methyl modified nucleotide, a 2′-fluoro modified nucleotide, and a 5′-methyl cytosine.

8. The kit of claim 6 , wherein the probe oligomer comprises a nucleobase sequence of SEQ ID NO: 21, SEQ ID NO: 26, SEQ ID NO: 39, SEQ ID NO:

53, SEQ ID NO: 55, SEQ ID NO: 57, SEQ ID NO: 59, SEQ ID NO: 61, SEQ ID NO: 65, SEQ ID NO: 67, SEQ ID NO: 69, or SEQ ID NO: 71.

9. The kit of claim 8 , wherein the probe oligomer contains:

(a) a fluorescent molecule attached to the 5′ or 3′ end of the probe oligomer; and/or

(b) 4-5 nucleobases at the 3′ end of the probe oligomer that are complementary to 4-5 nucleobases at the 5′ end of the probe oligomer wherein (i) a fluorescent molecule is attached to the 5′ end of the probe oligomer and a quencher is attached to the 3′ end of the probe oligomer; or (ii) a fluorescent molecule is attached to the 3′ end of the probe oligomer and a quencher is attached to the 5′ end of the probe oligomer.

10. The kit of claim 9 , wherein the probe oligomer comprises the nucleobase sequence of SEQ ID NO: 20, SEQ ID NO: 22, SEQ ID NO: 54, SEQ ID NO: 56, SEQ ID NO: 58, SEQ ID NO: 60, SEQ ID NO: 62, SEQ ID NO: 64, SEQ ID NO: 66, SEQ ID NO: 68, or SEQ ID NO: 70.

11. The kit of claim 6 , further comprising:

(a) a helper oligomer comprising 19-31 contiguous nucleobases having at least 90% identity to a 19-31 nucleotide sequence present in SEQ ID NO: 2, wherein the helper oligomer is blocked or unblocked; and/or

(b) a displacer oligomer comprising 21-27 contiguous nucleobases having at least 90% identity to a 21-25 nucleotide sequence present in SEQ ID NO: 5.

12. The kit of claim 11 , wherein:

(a) the helper oligomer comprises a nucleotide sequence selected from the group consisting of SEQ ID NO: 10, SEQ ID NO: 14, SEQ ID NO: 15, SEQ ID NO: 17, and SEQ ID NO: 18; and/or

(b) the displacer oligomer comprises a nucleotide sequence selected from the group consisting of: SEQ ID NO: 6, SEQ ID NO: 12, SEQ ID NO: 25, SEQ ID NO: 33, SEQ ID NO: 35, SEQ ID NO: 37, SEQ ID NO: 41, SEQ ID NO: 72, SEQ ID NO: 73, SEQ ID NO: 74, SEQ ID NO: 75, SEQ ID NO: 76, SEQ ID NO: 77, SEQ ID NO: 86, SEQ ID NO: 87, and SEQ ID NO: 88.

13. The kit of claim 6 , further comprising at least one target capture oligomer (TCO) comprising the nucleobase sequence of SEQ ID NO: 6, SEQ ID NO: 8, SEQ ID NO: 43, SEQ ID NO: 45, SEQ ID NO: 7, SEQ ID NO: 9, SEQ ID NO: 42, or SEQ ID NO:44.

14. The kit of claim 1 , wherein:

(a) the forward primer comprises SEQ ID NO: 11 and the reverse primer comprises SEQ ID NO: 23;

(b) the forward rimer com rises SEQ ID NO: 11, the reverse rimer comprises SEQ ID NO: 23, and the kit further comprises a probe oligomer comprising SEQ ID NO: 53;

(c) the forward primer comprises SEQ ID NO:19 and the reverse primer comprises SEQ ID NO: 46;

(d) the forward rimer comprises SEQ ID NO:19, the reverse rimer comprises SEQ ID NO: 46, and the kit further comprises a probe oligomer comprising SEQ ID NO: 56;

(e) the forward primer comprises SEQ ID NO:19, the reverse primer comprises SEQ ID NO: 46, and the kit further comprises a probe oligomer comprising SEQ ID NO: 56, and at least one of a TCO comprising SEQ ID NO: 42 and a TCO comprising SEQ ID NO: 44;

(f) the forward primer comprises SEQ ID NO:19, the reverse rimer comprises SEQ ID NO: 46, and the kit further comprises a probe oligomer comprising SEQ ID NO: 56, a helper oligomer comprising SEQ ID NO: 14, and a displacer oligomer comprising SEQ ID NO: 41; or

(g) the forward primer comprises SEQ ID NO:19, the reverse primer comprises SEQ ID NO: 46, and the kit further comprises a probe oligomer comprising SEQ ID NO: 56, a helper oligomer comprising SEQ ID NO: 14, a displacer oligomer comprising SEQ ID NO: 41, and at least one of a TCO comprising SEQ ID NO: 42 and a TCO comprising SEQ ID NO: 44.

15. The kit of claim 14 , further comprising one or more of: a target capture reagent, a target capture wash solution, a target enhancer reagent, an amplification reagent, an enzyme reagent, a promoter reagent, a CMV positive control nucleic acid, a negative control nucleic acid, a sample transport medium, a reverse transcriptase, an RNA polymerase, dNTPs, NTPs, a buffer, positive and/or negative control samples, an internal control promoter primer comprising SEQ ID NO: 50, an internal control primer comprising SEQ ID NO: 63, an internal probe oligomer comprising SEQ ID NO: 88, and an internal control TCO comprising SEQ ID NO:49.

16. A method for amplifying and detecting a target region of nucleic acid derived from a human cytomegalovirus (CMV) UL56 gene sequence present in a sample, the method comprising:

(a) contacting the sample with a forward primer and a reverse primer configured to amplify a CMV UL56 amplicon, wherein the forward primer comprises 20-31 contiguous nucleobases present in SEQ ID NO: 2 and comprising the nucleobase sequence of SEQ ID NO:11, and the reverse primer comprises 23-40 contiguous nucleobases present in SEQ ID NO: 3, and comprising the nucleobase sequence of SEQ ID NO:23;

(b) exposing the sample to conditions sufficient to amplify the target region thereby producing an amplification product if the CMV UL56 gene sequence is present in the sample; and

(c) detecting and/or quantifying the presence or absence of the amplification product.

17. The method of claim 16 , wherein the amplifying comprises a thermal cycling reaction, a polymerase chain reaction (PCR), an isothermal nucleic acid amplification reaction, a transcription-mediated amplification (TMA), a biphasic TMA, a nucleic acid sequence-based amplification, a replicase-mediated amplification, a Qβ-replicase-mediated amplification, a ligase chain reaction (LCR), or a strand-displacement amplification (SDA).