Jacqueline S. Sampson - College Park GA, US Katherine E. Morrison - Columbia SC, US Jennifer Crook Whitmon - Stockbridge GA, US Edwin Ades - Atlanta GA, US George M. Carlone - Stone Mountain GA, US
Assignee:
The United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services - Washington DC
The present invention relates to oligonucleotide primers, and methods of diagnosis using the primers, wherein particular primer pairs prime the universal amplification of an amplicon for specific from all 90 known serotypes. The amplicon includes at least a portion of the psaA gene of. In the methods, amplification of a biological sample using the primer pairs of the invention provide an amplicon only if the sample contains a serotype of. The invention further relates to an isolated nucleic acid including a nucleic acid amplicon obtained using a pair of oligonucleotide primers of the invention. In still a further aspect, the invention discloses a polypeptide including an amino acid sequence encoded by a nucleic acid amplicon obtained using oligonucleotide primers. Additionally, methods of stimulating an immune response against a serotype of in a mammal include either administering a polypeptide encoded by a nucleic acid amplicon obtained using the pair of oligonucleotide primers of the invention, or administering a nucleic acid containing a nucleic acid amplicon obtained using the pair of oligonucleotide primers of the invention.