Amplification chemistries in clinical virology.

• This review article describes the amplification chemistries that are commonly used in the clinical virology laboratory. • The article includes different techniques for target, signal, and probe amplification chemistries. • Major features and limitations of each chemistry are described. • Commercial applications of these chemistries for viral pathogens that infect humans are included. Molecular diagnostic methods have evolved and matured considerably over the last several decades and are constantly being evaluated and adopted by clinical laboratories for the identification of infectious pathogens. Advancement in other technologies such as fluorescence, electronics, instrumentation, automation, and sensors have made the overall diagnostic process more accurate, sensitive, and rapid. Nucleic acid based detection procedures, which rely on the fundamental principles of DNA replication have emerged as a popular and standard diagnostic method, and several commercial assays are currently available based on different nucleic acid amplification techniques. This review focuses on the major amplification chemistries that are used for developing commercial assays and discusses their application in the clinical virology laboratory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]