A Microarray Based Approach for the Identification of Common Foodborne Viruses

Ayodeji, Mobolanle; Kulka, Michael; Jackson, Scott A; Patel, Isha; Mammel, Mark; Cebula, Thomas A; Goswami, Biswendu B

The more closely the target sequence matches the probe set, the stronger the hybridization signal. Diversity between and among probe sets representing virus strains within a group such as CV increases the power of discrimination (due to heterogeneity) particularly when the target is highly similar to one of the probe sets. This enables discrimination even at least at the strain level (e.g. among strains within the same serotype group such as CV group B serotypes). This level of discrimination is lost when a target whose sequence is not represented by a probe set is not present on the array. Again, this has been shown to be problematic with highly (genetically) diverse viruses such as CV. However, despite the loss of serotype discrimination, the diverse nature of such viruses does still enable the differentiation between virus groups as shown between CVA and HAV, NV, and rotavirus.