scholarly journals A Ligation/Recombinase Polymerase Amplification Assay for Rapid Detection of SARS-CoV−2

Author(s):  
Pei Wang ◽  
Chao Ma ◽  
Xue Zhang ◽  
Lizhan Chen ◽  
Longyu Yi ◽  
...  

The pandemic of COVID-19 caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) has led to more than 117 million reported cases and 2.6 million deaths. Accurate diagnosis technologies are vital for controlling this pandemic. Reverse transcription (RT)-based nucleic acid detection assays have been developed, but the strict sample processing requirement of RT has posed obstacles on wider applications. This study established a ligation and recombinase polymerase amplification (L/RPA) combined assay for rapid detection of SARS-CoV−2 on genes N and ORF1ab targeting the specific biomarkers recommended by the China CDC. Ligase-based strategies usually have a low-efficiency problem on RNA templates. This study has addressed this problem by using a high concentration of the T4 DNA ligase and exploiting the high sensitivity of RPA. Through selection of the ligation probes and optimization of the RPA primers, the assay achieved a satisfactory sensitivity of 101 viral RNA copies per reaction, which was comparable to RT-quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) and other nucleic acid detection assays for SARS-CoV−2. The assay could be finished in less than 30 min with a simple procedure, in which the requirement for sophisticated thermocycling equipment had been avoided. In addition, it avoided the RT procedure and could potentially ease the requirement for sample processing. Once validated with clinical samples, the L/RPA assay would increase the practical testing availability of SARS-CoV-2. Moreover, the principle of L/RPA has an application potential to the identification of concerned mutations of the virus.

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yangyang Sun ◽  
Lei Yu ◽  
Chengxi Liu ◽  
Wei Chen ◽  
Dechang Li ◽  
...  

Abstract Background: COVID-19 has spread rapidly around the world, affecting almost every person. When lifting certain mandatory measures for an economic restart, robust surveillance must be established and implemented, with nucleic acid detection for SARS-CoV-2 as an essential component. Methods: We designed RT-RPA (Reverse Transcription and Recombinase Polymerase Isothermal Amplification) primers of RdRp gene and N gene according to the SARS-CoV-2 gene sequence. We optimized the components in the reaction so that the detection process could be carried out in one tube. The specificity was demonstrated through detecting nucleic acid samples from seven human coronaviruses. Clinical samples were used to validate the platform and all results were compared to rRT-PCR. RNA standards diluted by different gradients were used to demonstrate the limit of detection. Furthermore, we have developed a lateral flow assay based on OR-DETECTR for the detection of COVID-19. Results: We have developed a o ne-tube detection platform based on R T- R PA and DNA Endonuclease-Targeted CRISPR Trans Reporter ( DETECTR ) technology, termed OR-DETECTR, to detect SARS-CoV-2. The detection process is completed in one tube, and the time is 50min. The method can specifically detect SARS-CoV-2 from seven human coronaviruses with a low detection limit of 2.5 copies/µl input. Results from six SARS-CoV-2 patient samples, eight samples from patients with fever but no SARS-CoV-2 infection, and one mixed sample from 40 negative controls showed that OR-DETECTR is 100% consistent with rRT-PCR. Furthermore, we have developed a lateral flow assay based on OR-DETECTR for the detection of COVID-19. Conclusions: OR-DETECTR detection platform is rapid, accurate, tube closed, easy-to-operate, and free of large instruments for COVID-19 detection.


2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jia Xie ◽  
Xiaohan Yang ◽  
Lei Duan ◽  
Keyi Chen ◽  
Pan Liu ◽  
...  

Hand, foot, and mouth disease (HFMD) is a common infectious disease affecting mainly children under 5 years of age. Coxsackievirus A6 (CVA-6), a major causative pathogen of HFMD, has caused outbreaks in recent years. Currently, no effective vaccine or antiviral treatments are available. In this study, one-step reverse-transcription recombinase polymerase amplification (RT-RPA), combined with a disposable lateral flow strip (LFS) assay, was developed to detect CVA-6. This assay can be performed in less than 35 min at 37°C without expensive instruments, and the result can be observed directly with the naked eye. The sensitivity of the RT-RPA-LFS was 10 copies per reaction, which was comparable to that of the conventional real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) assays. Moreover, the assay specificity was 100%. The clinical performance of the RT-RPA-LFS assay was evaluated using 142 clinical samples, and the coincidence rate between RT-RPA-LFS and qPCR was 100%. Therefore, our RT-RPA-LFS assay provides a simple and rapid approach for point-of-care CVA-6 diagnosis.


2021 ◽  
Vol 27 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mohamad Hesam Shahrajabian ◽  
Wenli Sun ◽  
Qi Cheng

Introduction: While PCR has been recognized as one of the appropriate ways to diagnosis of infectious diseases, Loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP), which is a nucleic acid amplification method, can be considered as an alternative to PCR, and it is faster, cost-effective, and easier to perform than nested PCR. Patients and Methods: Keywords were searched in PubMed/MEDLINE, Scopus and Institute for Scientific Information Web of Science, as well as the search engine of Google Scholar. Keywords were PCR, LAMP, RAA, RPA, Virus and COVID-19. Results: LAMP technology has been extensively applied for the detection of human pathogenic bacteria, crop pests, pathogenic organisms and components in meat products. A new isotheral method, Recombinase polymerase amplification (RPA), can amplify the DNA as well as RPA. RPA has benefited from isothermal PCR and both simplicity and rapid amplification. Recombinase aided amplification (RAA) assay has been favorably used in the detection of bacterial and viral pathogens and solved the technical difficulties posed by DNA amplification methods because it does not need thermal denaturation of the template and employs at a low and constant temperature. Conclusions: Reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction, digital PCR, LAMP, nicking endonuclease amplification reaction, recombinase polymerase amplification, and clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats are different nucleic acid amplification tests of COVID-19. LAMP methods can be more specific than qPCR and immunoassays. The LAMP assay can be applied for rapid detection of SARS-CoV, MERS-CoV, SARS-CoV-2, and influenza, because LAMP is a highly sensitive and specific DNA/RNA amplification technique.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas R Shelite ◽  
Ashanti C Uscanga-Palomeque ◽  
Alejandro Castellanos ◽  
Peter C Melby ◽  
Bruno L Travi

Abstract The rapid detection of novel pathogens necessitates the development of easy-to-use diagnostic tests that can be readily adapted and utilized in both clinical laboratories and field settings. In December of 2019, novel coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2 (2019-nCoV), was isolated from a cluster of pneumonia patients in the Chinese city of Wuhan. The virus rapidly spread throughout the world and the first fatal cases of COVID-19 in the United States occurred in late February. The lack of testing and delay in diagnosis has facilitated the spread of this novel virus. Development of point-of-care diagnostic assays that can be performed in rural or decentralized health care centers to expand testing capacity is needed. We developed a qualitative test based on recombinase-polymerase-amplification coupled with lateral flow reading (RPA-LF) for rapid detection of SARS-CoV-2. The RPA-LF detected SARS-CoV-2 with a limit of detection of 35.4 viral nucleocapsid (N) gene copies/µL. Additionally, the RPA-LF was able to detect 0.25-2.5 copies/µL of SARS-CoV-2 N gene containing plasmid. We evaluated 37 clinical samples using CDC’s N3, N1 and N2 RT-real-time PCR assays for SARS-CoV-2 as reference test. We found a 100% concordance between RPA-LF and RT-qPCR reference test as determined by 18/18 positive and 19/19 negative samples. All positive samples had Ct values between 19-37 by RT-qPCR. The RPA-LF primers and probe did not cross react with other relevant betacoronaviruses such as SARS and MERS. This is the first isothermal amplification test paired with lateral flow developed for qualitative detection of COVID-19 allowing rapid viral detection and with prospective applicability in resource limited and decentralized laboratories.


PLoS ONE ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. e0246573
Author(s):  
Sandeep K. Gupta ◽  
Qing Deng ◽  
Tanushree B. Gupta ◽  
Paul Maclean ◽  
Joerg Jores ◽  
...  

Mycoplasma ovipneumoniae infects both sheep and goats causing pneumonia resulting in considerable economic losses worldwide. Current diagnosis methods such as bacteriological culture, serology, and PCR are time consuming and require sophisticated laboratory setups. Here we report the development of two rapid, specific and sensitive assays; an isothermal DNA amplification using recombinase polymerase amplification (RPA) and a real-time PCR for the detection of M. ovipneumoniae. The target for both assays is a specific region of gene WP_069098309.1, which encodes a hypothetical protein and is conserved in the genome sequences of ten publicly available M. ovipneumoniae strains. The RPA assay performed well at 39°C for 20 min and was combined with a lateral flow dipstick (RPA-LFD) for easy visualization of the amplicons. The detection limit of the RPA-LFD assay was nine genome copies of M. ovipneumoniae per reaction and was comparable to sensitivity of the real-time PCR assay. Both assays showed no cross-reaction with 38 other ovine and caprine pathogenic microorganisms and two parasites of ruminants, demonstrating a high degree of specificity. The assays were validated using bronchoalveolar lavage fluid and nasal swab samples collected from sheep. The positive rate of RPA-LFD (97.4%) was higher than the real-time PCR (95.8%) with DNA as a template purified from the clinical samples. The RPA assay was significantly better at detecting M. ovipneumoniae in clinical samples compared to the real-time PCR when DNA extraction was omitted (50% and 34.4% positive rate for RPA-LFD and real-time PCR respectively). The RPA-LFD developed here allows easy and rapid detection of M. ovipneumoniae infection without DNA extraction, suggesting its potential as a point-of-care test for field settings.


2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yang You ◽  
Pingping Zhang ◽  
Gengshan Wu ◽  
Yafang Tan ◽  
Yong Zhao ◽  
...  

The recent discovery of collateral cleavage activity of class-II clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats–CRISPR-associated protein (CRISPR-Cas) makes CRISPR-based diagnosis a potential high-accuracy nucleic acid detection method. Colloidal gold-based lateral flow immunochromatographic assay (LFA), which has been combined with CRISPR/Cas-based nucleic detection, usually associates with drawbacks of relative high background and the subjectivity in naked-eye read-out of the results. Here, we developed a novel system composed of Cas12a-based nucleic acid detection and up-converting phosphor technology (UPT)-based LFA (UPT–LFA), termed Cas12a-UPTLFA. We further demonstrated the utility of this platform in highly sensitive and specific detection of Yersinia pestis, the causative agent of the deadly plague. Due to high infectivity and mortality, as well as the potential to be misused as bioterrorism agent, a culture-free, ultrasensitive, specific, and rapid detection method for Y. pestis has long been desired. By incorporating isothermal recombinase polymerase amplification, the Cas12a-UPTLFA we established can successfully detect genomic DNA of Y. pestis as low as 3 attomolar (aM) and exhibited high sensitivity (93.75%) and specificity (90.63%) for detection of spiked blood samples with a detection limit of 102 colony-forming unit per 100 μl of mouse blood. With a portable biosensor, Cas12a-UPTLFA assay can be operated easily by non-professional personnel. Taken together, we have developed a novel Cas12a-UPTLFA platform for rapid detection of Y. pestis with high sensitivity and specificity, which is portable, not expensive, and easy to operate as a point-of-care method. This detection system can easily be extended to detect other pathogens and holds great promise for on-site detection of emerging infectious pathogens.


2013 ◽  
Vol 2013 ◽  
pp. 1-12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zongyuan Chen ◽  
William R. Abrams ◽  
Eran Geva ◽  
Claudia J. de Dood ◽  
Jesús M. González ◽  
...  

A prototype dual-path microfluidic device (Rheonix CARD) capable of performing simultaneously screening (antigen or antibody) and confirmatory (nucleic acid) detection of pathogens is described. The device fully integrates sample processing, antigen or antibody detection, and nucleic acid amplification and detection, demonstrating rapid and inexpensive “sample-to-result” diagnosis with performance comparable to benchtop analysis. For the chip design, a modular approach was followed allowing the optimization of individual steps in the sample processing process. This modular design provides great versatility accommodating different disease targets independently of the production method. In the detection module, a lateral flow (LF) protocol utilizing upconverting phosphor (UCP) reporters was employed. The nucleic acid (NA) module incorporates a generic microtube containing dry reagents. Lateral flow strips and PCR primers determine the target or disease that is diagnosed. Diagnosis of HIV infection was used as a model to investigate the simultaneous detection of both human antibodies against the virus and viral RNA. The serological result is available in less than 30 min, and the confirmation by RNA amplification takes another 60 min. This approach combines a core serological portable diagnostic with a nucleic acid-based confirmatory test.


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