Table 4. PCR methods used to detect pathogenic Escherichia coli in samples

Type of pathogenic Escherichia coli		Target gene	Detection method used
Escherichia coli		clpB-mRNA	Nucleic acid based sequence amplification real-time PCR (Molecular beacon probe)
Escherichia coli		Internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region between 16S-23S rRNA subunit genes	Quantitative real-time PCR (SYBR Green)
Escherichia coli, Helicobacter pylori		lacZ	Quantitative real-time PCR (TaqMan probe)
Enterococcus spp., Enterococcus faecalis/faecium, Escherichia coli, and Shigella spp.		23S rRNA, mtlf, ddl, and atpD	Reverse transcriptase PCR (TaqMan probe)
Escherichia coli O157:H7	Normal	rfbE	PCR
		rfbE and fliC	Real-Time PCR and electronic microarray
		stx1 and/or stx2	Multiplex-Reverse transcriptase PCR (SYBR Green)
		stx1, stx2, and rfbE	Reverse transcriptase PCR (TaqMan probe)
	Stressed	eae, stx1, and stx2	Multiplex-Quantitative real-time PCR (Minor groove binding probes)
Enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli (EHEC)		stx1, stx2, and eae	Multiplex-Reverse transcriptase PCR (SYBR Green)
Enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli (ETEC)		LT1	Quantitative real-time PCR (Molecular beacon probe)
		LT1 and ST1	Quantitative real-time PCR (SYBR Green)
Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC)		stx2	Quantitative real-time PCR (Molecular beacon probe)

Rearranged by referring to the Table in Mendes Silva and Domingues [48] with permission of Elsevier.
PCR, polymerase chain reaction; Stx, Shiga toxins; LT, heat-labile enterotoxins; ST, heat-stable enterotoxins.