摘要:
The present invention relates to a PCR (polymerase chain reaction) based assay that is useful for detecting, identifying, quantitating and analysis of a target nucleic acid (target nucleic acid hereinafter) in a sample. More specifically, the present invention relates to a PCR based assay that can improve accuracy in detecting, identifying, and quantitating contamination in mammalian cell lines using a PCR-based assay of nucleic acid oligonucleotides (oligoprobes) having a sequence expected to be complementary to a target nucleic acid sequence in a sample. More specifically, the sample may contain either cells or nucleic acid isolated from a cell line. The present invention also relates to a detection kit using the PCR-based assay. The invention also involves a method for using specifically produced nucleic acids complementary to specific sequences or populations of different sequences of the cytochrome c oxidase I (COI) and/or cytochrome b, to detect, identify, and quantify specific organisms, groups of organisms, groups of eukaryotic cells or viruses in cells.