Compositions for use in identification of bacteria
The present invention provides compositions, kits and methods for rapid identification and quantification of bacteria by molecular mass and base composition analysis.
1. A kit for identifying, determining one or more characteristics of, or detecting a Staphylococcus aureus bioagent comprising a first oligonucleotide primer pair comprising a forward and a reverse primer wherein said forward primer comprises the sequence of SEQ ID NO: 440 and said reverse primer comprises the sequence of SEQ ID NO: 1076 and at least one additional primer pair designed to hybridize to a Staphylococcus aureus gene encoding arcC, aroE, gmk, pta, tpi, yqi, wherein said at least one additional primer pair comprises SEQ ID NOs: 437:1232, SEQ ID NOs: 590:891, SEQ ID NOs: 474:869, SEQ ID NOs: 268:1284, SEQ ID NOs: 418:1301, SEQ ID NOs: 318:1300 or a combination thereof.
2. The kit of claim 1 further comprising at least one other additional primer pair designed to hybridize to a Staphylococcus aureus gene encoding mecA, mecR1, pvluk or a combination thereof.
3. The kit of claim 1 , wherein said forward primer of said first oligonucleotide primer pair is SEQ ID NO: 440.
4. The kit of claim 1 , wherein said reverse primer of said first oligonucleotide primer pair is SEQ ID NO: 1076.
5. The kit of claim 1 , wherein at least one of said forward primer and said reverse primer of said first oligonucleotide primer pair comprises at least one modified nucleobase.
6. The kit of claim 5 , wherein said at least one modified nucleobase is a mass modified nucleobase.
7. The kit of claim 6 , wherein said mass modified nucleobase is 5-Iodo-C.
8. The kit of claim 6 , wherein said mass modified nucleobase comprises a molecular mass modifying tag.
9. The kit of claim 5 , wherein said at least one modified nucleobase is a universal nucleobase.
10. The kit of claim 9 , wherein said universal nucleobase is inosine.