Test Principle:
The Amplifluor® ID Influenza A, H5N1 Virus Reagent was designed to detect conserved nucleic acid regions contained within Influenza A virus genomes that encode for the hemagglutinin (H5) and neuraminidase (N1) genes. Since the Since the Infleunza A Virus (H5N1) contains an RNA genome, initial amplification reactions are performed using the reverse transcription (RT) primer for 1st strand cDNA synthesis, followed by Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) amplification utilizing the forward Amplifluor® hairpin primer and reverse primer to produce target-specific fluorescent amplicons. The Amplifluor® hairpin primer is labeled with Donor (fluorescein) and Quencher (DABSYL) fluorophores, which produce the high signal to noise ratio observed in the Amplifluor® assay. Upon incorporation into new amplicons, the Amplifluor® primer is fluorescent (reported in the instrument's FAM layer), while the fluorescein signal of the unincorporated Amplifluor® primer is quenched. When performed on a thermal cycler capable of real-time fluorescence detection, the amplification products of the PCR reaction can be monitored directly in a quantitative fashion, allowing evaluation of template detection in a single, closed-tube system with no additional assay procedure. Where required, template standard curves may be employed to quantitatively determine viral load.