부산대학교 도서관

ABSTRACTKingella kingaeis an emerging osteoarticular pathogen in young children. Its isolation by traditional culture methods remains difficult, underscoring the need to implement other diagnostic methods for its detection and identification, such as nucleic acid amplification tests. Although the genome of this bacterium has not yet been sequenced, a toxin named RTX has been identified. The goal of this study was to develop sensitive, specific, and rapid molecular methods based on the rtxAtoxin gene sequence to diagnose this infection. Two real-time PCR assays (SYBR green and TaqMan chemistries) targeting this gene are reported. Sensitivity and specificity were first evaluated successfully with 67 strains: 31 Kingella kingaeisolates and 36 strains from other bacterial species. Then, 52 clinical specimens positive or negative by culture and/or PCR (16S rRNA and cpn60genes) were tested with these assays. A nested PCR assay with subsequent sequencing was also developed to confirm the presence of Kingella kingaeisolates in these clinical specimens. The results obtained demonstrate that these assays are accurate for the diagnosis of Kingella kingaeinfection.