Molecular and Genetic Medicine

Molecular Methods in Microbiology and their Clinical Application

Abstract

Malhotra S, Sharma S, Bhatia NJK, Kumar P and Hans C

Conventional microbiology is an inexpensive but protracted diagnostic method and there are certain limitations associated with it. Molecular methods have been increasingly incorporated in laboratories, particularly for the detection and characterization of isolates and for the diagnosis of diseases due to fastidious, slow growing, nonviable or non-cultivable organisms which cannot be detected by conventional culture techniques. The introduction of these techniques and their automation provides new opportunities for the clinical laboratory to affect patient care. These tests provide timely results which are useful for high-quality patient care at a reasonable cost and are associated with improvement in patients care. The use of amplification techniques such as polymerase chain reaction, real-time polymerase chain reaction or nucleic acid sequence-based amplification for micro-organisms detection, genotyping and quantification. Molecular methods are rapid and highly sensitive and specific. This review will focus on various molecular techniques which are performed in clinical microbiology laboratories and their clinical applications and therefore help in management of infectious diseases.