PCR based differentiation of pathogenic and non pathogenic Leptospira using hap1 gene

Abstract

A polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was developed for diagnosing leptospirosis as well as for differentiating pathogenic and saprophytic leptospires. The integral hap1 gene was present only in the pathogenic Leptospira strains. Hence, PCR amplification was done using both pathogenic and non pathogenic leptospira using hap1 gene specific primers. The expected amplicon size of 262 bp was obtained for all pathogenic strains tested. On the other hand, no amplification was obtained in saprophytic leptospira strains used.