The purpose of this study was to develop Peptoniphilus mikwangii -specific quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) primers based on the 16S ribosomal RNA (16S rDNA) gene. The specificity of the primers was determined by conventional PCR using 29 strains of 27 oral bacterial species including P. mikwangii. The sensitivity of the primers was determined by qPCR using the purified genomic DNA of P. mikwangii KCOM 1628T (40 ng to 4 fg). The data showed that the qPCR primers (RTB134-F4/RTB134-R4) could detect P. mikwangii strains exclusively and as little as 40 fg of the genomic DNA of P. mikwangii KCOM 1628T. These results suggest that the developed qPCR primer pair can be useful for detecting P. mikwangii in epidemiological studies of oral bacterial infectious diseases.

In a previous study, Peptoniphilus mikwangii was isolated from the human oral cavity as a new species. The purpose of this study was to develop P. mikwangii-specific PCR primers. The PCR primers were designed, based on the nucleotide sequence of 16S ribosomal RNA (16S rDNA). The specificity of the primers was tested using genomic DNAs of 3 strains of P. mikwangii and 27 strains (27 species) of non-P. mikwangii bacteria. The sensitivity of primers sensitivity was determined using PCR, with serial dilutions of the purified genomic DNAs (4 ng to 4 fg) of P. mikwangii KCOM 1628T. The data showed that P. mikwangii-specific qPCR primers (B134-F11/B134-R1 & B134-F5/B134-R5) could detect only P. mikwangii strains, and 400 fg or 40 fg of P. mikwangii genome DNA. These results suggest that PCR primers are useful in detecting P. mikwangii from the oral cavity.