VERNON HILLS, IL — Labs testing for Aspergillus in cannabis and other agricultural products can get rapid and accurate test results with high specificity when they use the new Spex CertiPrep® 2-Color Aspergillus Detection Kit for qPCR. The kit is designed to detect the presence of the four most common pathogenic strains of Aspergillus DNA: niger, terreus, flavus, and fumigatus DNA in cannabis species flower, stem, and/or leaf tissue(s).

Components of the kit include 2 x Aspergillus detection Master Mix, Aspergillus positive control, internal control, yellow dye (20 x), DNase/RNase/Proteinase free water, and ROX. For machines that lack a HEX filter, VIC can be interchangeably used.

The internal control ensures the sample is free of PCR inhibitors that would lead to false negative results. To help distinguish the Master Mix from the template DNA and from the final product during sample preparation, an inert yellow dye is provided to label the template prior to adding to the Master Mix which contains an inert blue dye. When mixed the resulting solution is green, confirming the presence of all components. The kit works with any qPCR system that supports the two-color channels. It is very sensitive and can detect down to 10 copies of Aspergillus DNA. The results from the qPCR should be available within 55 minutes, depending on the qPCR machine being used.