No controls? No problem. A novel approach to develop controls that mimic natural virus infection

With the meager availability and tedious acquisition of virus positive controls, verifying detection assays is grueling.
Different types of artificial positive controls are available for PCR-based diagnostics; primarily based on plasmids, gBlocks and RNA transcripts that incorporate sequences of interest.
Plasmids are widely used but delivery takes time and because of their high concentration, the possibility of contamination is significant.
Most importantly they do not accurately represent tropism or pathogen titer.
We propose a new approach for development of controls.
The technique is applicable independent of the viral genome composition and is inexpensive and rapid as time between design and application is about five days.
Importantly, by using similar viruses these controls mimic virus tropism and titer.
These controls can be applied in routine diagnostics or major outbreaks where a quick response is of utmost importance.

XIII International Rubus and Ribes Symposium

S. Singh, D. Stainton, I.E. Tzanetakis

diagnostics, virus, disease outbreak, positive controls, ViMAPC

https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.2024.1388.32