Effects of DNA extraction method on Porcine circovirus-2 real-time polymerase chain reaction quantification in swine lymph node samples

Quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) has become an important tool for Porcine circovirus-2 (PCV-2) research and diagnosis. However, significant differences in detection limit and quantification data, among laboratories and quantitative real-time PCR methods, have been demonstrated. New efforts are required for providing more accurate and comparable results. The current study is an evaluation of the effects of DNA extraction procedures on PCV-2 quantification in lymph node samples. Differences, greater than 1 log(10) copies/g, were shown among PCV-2 loads detected after different extraction procedures. The work highlighted the critical role of the DNA extraction method in PCV-2 quantification by quantitative real-time PCR. This important aspect should be evaluated when comparing data from different laboratories or different studies. The PCV-2 quantification data should not be considered comparable before demonstrating the equivalence of the DNA extraction methods performed.