New Delhi, June 11 (Punjab Post Bureau) – The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has recommended only ![\"\"](\"https:\/\/punjabpost.in\/welcome\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/Lab-Test.jpg\")
reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) test for novel coronavirus testing. Researchers at the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB) have developed a new low-cost and low-tech required test for SARS-CoV-2 testing. This test is known as reverse transcription nested PCR (RT-nPCR) test.<\/p>\n
This test does not require real-time quantitative RT-qPCR. The RT-nPCR developed by the CCMB research team has shown comparable performance to the standard RT-qPCR test. The nested PCR (RT-nPCR) approach does not depend on RT-qPCR but uses standard RT-PCR as part of an endpoint assay.<\/p>\n
In the course of comparing the results of both tests, researchers found that the standard RT-qPCR test can have low detection efficiency (less than 50%) in a real testing scenario, which may be due to low viral representation in many samples. This finding brought home the importance of monitoring detection efficiency directly in test environments.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe developed and tested an RT-nPCR protocol comprising a multiplex primary RT-PCR for amplification of four SARS-CoV-2 amplicons and a control human amplicon followed by a secondary nested PCR for individual amplicons. We also examined the use of RT-nPCR in pooled testing and in direct amplification without RNA isolation,\u201d said Dr Rakesh Mishra, Director, CCMB, while speaking with India Science Wire<\/em>.<\/p>\n The RNA isolated from nasopharyngeal <\/strong>swab samples that had been previously tested using one of the two RT-qPCR tests was examined using RT-nPCR and the results were compared. It was found that taking both standard RT-qPCR tests together, the RT-nPCR test was able to identify 90% of the detected samples as positive by RT-qPCR. It also detected 13% samples as positive among samples that were negative by the standard RT-qPCR test (likely false negatives). Based on the experimentally measured false negative rate by RT-nPCR tests from this study, it was estimated that as many as 50% of positive samples may escape detection in single pass testing by RT-qPCR in an actual testing scenario.<\/p>\n \u201cThis new test is awaiting approval from ICMR. We might ask ICMR to use this test in those places where there are no RT-qPCR machines,\u201d remarked Dr Mishra.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" New Delhi, June 11 (Punjab Post Bureau) – The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has recommended only reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) test for novel coronavirus testing. Researchers at the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB) have developed a new low-cost and low-tech required test for SARS-CoV-2 testing. This test is known …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":174762,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[26,11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-174761","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","","category-articles","category-english"],"yoast_head":"\n