AOAC SPADA Meeting

Delay in obtaining reference materials

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Evolution is a continuum and the strains are just one blip in the continuum Evolution is a continuum and a strain (the lowest taxonomic unit) and its genomic sequence is just one data point in that continuum. The more strains you sequence the unique features will decrease and the assay will eventually fail; especially, if its an assay that distinguishes strains based on SNPs (highly monomorphic organisms) and the assay is not based on differences in gene content (even this will fail with lots of sequence data- e.g., Burk). So, it is essential to understand that no assay is expected to be perfect and constant monitoring and updating assay signatures are critical for successful biodetection in an outbreak scenario.

2018_10_17_SPADA_Brief

UNCLASSIFIED

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