Review on Advanced Molecular Diagnostic Tools and Their Applications

Abstract

Although the diagnosis of diseases is still primarily based on conventional methods (staining, culture, biochemical analysis), a series of advanced molecular diagnostic tools are increasingly introduced and incorporated in the workflow of clinical laboratories worldwide. These tools, such as polymerase chain reaction, northern blotting, restriction length polymorphism, flow cytometry, southern blotting, fluorescent in situ hybridization, agarose gel electrophoresis and pyrosequencing that are based on either the properties of nucleic acids (deoxyribonucleic acid and ribonucleic acid) or proteins of the target agents, have improved the efficacy, accuracy, and speed of detection and identification of disease causing agents and characterization of the diversity of pathogens. They are mainly involved in medicine, ribonucleic acid analysis, criminal case determination, origin and evolution of species, deoxyribonucleic acid fingerprinting, forensic analysis, immunophenotyping, deoxyribonucleic acid studies, single nucleotide polymorphism, resequencing, tag sequencing, and microbial identification. Therefore, advanced molecular diagnostic tools are new class of diagnostic tests that are used for identification of nucleic acids or proteins to test the status of infectious diseases and genetic disorders. But, they have some limitations like expensiveness, high technical need, and sensitivity for even minor changes during procedures. So advanced molecular diagnostic tools have a cutting-edge role in the diagnosis of animal and human diseases, and they should be implemented in different diagnostic sectors.

Keywords:Application, diseases, molecular diagnosis, principle