Development of a real-time RT-PCR method for detection of porcine rubulavirus (PoRV-LPMV)

In order to provide a rapid and sensitive method for detection of the Porcine rubulavirus La Piedad-Michoacan-Mexico Virus (PoRV-LPMV), we have developed a specific real-time reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction assay. The detection of PoRV-LPMV, represents a diagnostic challenge due to the viral RNA being present in very small amounts in tissue samples. In this study, a TaqMan(®) real-time PCR assay was designed based on the phosphoprotein gene of PoRV-LPMV, to allow specific amplification and detection of viral RNA in clinical samples. Assay conditions for the primers and probe were optimized using infected PK15 cells and ten-fold serial dilutions of a plasmid containing the whole P-gene. The sensitivity of the developed TaqMan(®) assay was approximately 10 plasmid copies per reaction, and was shown to be 1000 fold better than a conventional nested RT-PCR. The performance of this real-time RT-PCR method enables studies of various aspects of PoRV-LPMV infection. Finally, the assay detects all current known variants of the virus.