Molecular monitoring of disinfection efficacy of E. coli O157:H7 in bottled purified drinking water by quantitative PCR with a novel dye

A new method was developed using a novel dye thiazole orange monoazide (TOMA) combined with quantitative real-time PCR (qPCR) to detect viable Escherichia coli O157:H7 cells. Different from the commonly used PMA-qPCR assay that is based on membrane integrity, this TOMA-qPCR method is based on the concept of metabolic activity. TOMA consists of three components: a nucleic acid-intercalating moiety, a crosslinkable moiety and a linker. TOMA...