Design of molecular assays carried out in the Munich laboratories (conc = concentration).

1To minimize the size of PCR amplicons and maximize specificity, we utilized short locked nucleic acid (LNA) probes in our assay. These probes are modified TaqMan probes that were developed by Exiqon (Vedbaek, Denmark) and can be used when high affinity probes as specific as possible are required. The “+” in the sequence of the probe indicates the positions of the LNA labeling.