Broad-range PCR in the identification of bacterial and fungal pathogens from positive blood culture bottles: a sequencing approach.

Rapid identification of causative bacteria in patients with sepsis can contribute to appropriate selection of antibiotics and improvement of patients' prognosis. Genotypic identification is an emerging technology that may provide an alternative method to, or complement, established phenotypic identification procedures.Sequence analysis of the 16S rRNA gene is a widely accepted tool for molecular identification of bacteria. Pyrosequencing is a DNA sequencing technique that is based on the detection of pyrophosphate that is released during DNA synthesis. Pyrosequencing can provide sequence information rapidly by reading short sequences; therefore, it may contribute to a rapid identification and lead to a great help in improving the outcome of sepsis. The DNA pyrosequencing-based identification from positive blood culture samples basically consisted of the following four steps: (1) DNA extraction, (2) amplification of target genes, (3) DNA pyrosequencing, and (4) homology searching.