Online Database to Facilitate Identification of RNA Viruses by PCR

In order to facilitate identification of RNA viruses involved in human disease, disease outbreaks, and epidemics, a team of Korean molecular virologists has created a comprehensive online database of primers for use in identifying these viruses by PCR analysis.

Although PCR is widely used for rapid virus identification due to its low cost, high sensitivity, and specificity, very few online database resources have compiled PCR primers for RNA viruses. To fill this gap, investigators at the Daegu Gyeongbuk Institute of Science and Technology (South Korea) assembled a database containing 152,380,247 PCR primer pairs for detection of 1,818 viruses, covering 7,144 coding sequences (CDSs), representing 100% of the RNA viruses in the most up-to-date [U.S.] National Center for Biotechnology Information Reference Sequence (NCBI RefSeq) database. Due to rigorous similarity testing against all human and viral sequences, every primer in the database is highly target-specific.

The investigators announced in the November 29, 2016, online edition of the journal Nucleic Acids Research that the "MRPrimerV" database could be accessed by interested researchers free-of-charge at the Internet address http://MRPrimerV.com.

The investigators said, "We believe that the public availability of MRPrimerV will facilitate viral metagenomics studies aimed at evaluating the variability of viruses, as well as other scientific tasks, facilitating effective responses to potential epidemics."

Related Links:
Daegu Gyeongbuk Institute of Science and Technology
MRPrimerV