Detection of the human immunodeficiency virus genome with a biotinylated DNA probe generated by polymerase chain reaction.

Abstract A non-radiolabelled DNA probe was developed for detection of the human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) genome using the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) technology. Primers amplifying a 395 base pair segment of a portion of the polymerase region of the HIV-1 genome were used both to amplify sample target DNA and to generate a biotinylated DNA probe used in Southern blot hybridization. This probe performed as well as one produced by nick translation using biotinylated nucleotides or an enzyme labelled oligonucleotide probe.