Method for detection of pathogenic organisms

Abstract

A method for detection of pathogenic organisms wherein the method includes differentiation between species. The method is especially suitable to detect and to diagnose infection by pathogenic organisms which are hard and/or laborious to detect with conventional methods. The method relies upon analysis of specific variable regions of the RNase P RNA gene, namely the P3 and/or P19 region(s).

1 . A method for detection of a pathogenic organism, comprising analyzing a P3 and/or P19 hypervariable region of an RNase P RNA gene. 
     
     
         2 . The method according to  claim 1 , wherein the pathogenic organism is  mycobacteria  or  chlamydia.    
     
     
         3 . The method according to  claim 1 , wherein said analyzing comprises amplifying nucleic acid corresponding to the P3 and/or P19 hypervariable region. 
     
     
         4 . The method according to  claim 3 , wherein said analyzing further comprises sequencing the nucleic acid for species identification. 
     
     
         5 . The method according to  claims 3 , wherein said analyzing further comprises fingerprinting the nucleic acid for species identification. 
     
     
         6 . The method according to  claim 5 , wherein the nucleic acid is fingerprinted by a technique selected from the group consisting of Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphism (RFLP), heteroduplex analysis, size determination, melting point determination and combinations thereof. 
     
     
         7 . The method according to  claim 3 , wherein the pathogenic organism is  chlamydia  and primers used for amplification are JB1 (SEQ ID NO: 7) and JB2 (SEQ ID NO: 8). 
     
     
         8 . A method for detection of a pathogenic organism, comprising amplifying nucleic acids of at least one hypervariable region of the RNase P RNA gene from the pathogenic organism; forming a heteroduplex with related nucleic acid; and analyzing thereof. 
     
     
         9 . The method according to  claim 8 , wherein the hypervariable region is P3 and/or P19. 
     
     
         10 . The method according to  claim 8 , wherein the pathogenic organism is  mycobacteria  or  chlamydia.    
     
     
         11 . The method according to  claim 10 , wherein the pathogenic organism is  chlamydia  and primers used for amplification are JB1 (SEQ ID NO: 7) and JB2 (SEQ ID NO: 8). 
     
     
         12 . A method of treating a microbial infection comprising administering an effective amount of a medicament that targets the P3 and/or P19 variable region in the RNAse P RNA gene.