id	author	title	date	pages	extension	mime	words	sentences	flesch	summary	cache	txt
cord-329395-4k8js9v2	Ratcliff, Jeremy	Evaluation of Different PCR Assay Formats for Sensitive and Specific Detection of SARS-CoV-2 RNA	2020-07-01		.txt	text/plain	1662	124	55	Polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-based assays are the gold standard for detecting viral RNA in patient samples and are used extensively in clinical settings. To enable the application of PCR in resource-poor or non-specialist laboratories, we have developed and evaluated a nested PCR method for SARS-CoV-2 RNA using simple agarose gel electrophoresis for product detection. Using clinical samples tested by conventional qPCR methods and RNA transcripts of defined RNA copy number, the nested PCR based on the RdRP gene demonstrated high sensitivity and specificity for SARS-CoV-2 RNA detection in clinical samples, but showed variable and transcript length-dependent sensitivity for RNA transcripts. The sensitivity of the nested PCR and two RT-qPCR methods was compared by measuring the 118 50% endpoints (50EP) of detection for serial dilutions of the four transcripts described above 119 (Table 1, Figure 2 ). Protocol: Real-time RT-PCR assays for the detection of SARS-CoV-2	./cache/cord-329395-4k8js9v2.txt	./txt/cord-329395-4k8js9v2.txt