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Novel bioluminescent quantitative detection of nucleic acid amplification in real-time.

ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND: The real-time monitoring of polynucleotide amplification is at the core of most molecular assays. This conventionally relies on fluorescent detection of the amplicon produced, requiring complex and costly hardware, often restricting it to specialised laboratories. PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Here we report the first real-time, closed-tube luminescent reporter system for nucleic acid amplification technologies (NAATs) enabling the progress of amplification to be continuously monitored using simple light measuring equipment. The Bioluminescent Assay in Real-Time (BART) continuously reports through bioluminescent output the exponential increase of inorganic pyrophosphate (PPi) produced during the isothermal amplification of a specific nucleic acid target. BART relies on the coupled conversion of inorganic pyrophosphate (PPi) produced stoichiometrically during nucleic acid synthesis to ATP by the enzyme ATP sulfurylase, and can therefore be coupled to a wide range of isothermal NAATs. During nucleic acid amplification, enzymatic conversion of PPi released during DNA synthesis into ATP is continuously monitored through the bioluminescence generated by thermostable firefly luciferase. The assay shows a unique kinetic signature for nucleic acid amplifications with a readily identifiable light output peak, whose timing is proportional to the concentration of original target nucleic acid. This allows qualitative and quantitative analysis of specific targets, and readily differentiates between negative and positive samples. Since quantitation in BART is based on determination of time-to-peak rather than absolute intensity of light emission, complex or highly sensitive light detectors are not required. CONCLUSIONS: The combined chemistries of the BART reporter and amplification require only a constant temperature maintained by a heating block and are shown to be robust in the analysis of clinical samples. Since monitoring the BART reaction requires only a simple light detector, the iNAAT-BART combination is ideal for molecular diagnostic assays in both laboratory and low resource settings.

SUBMITTER: Gandelman OA

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2994769 | biostudies-literature | 2010

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Novel bioluminescent quantitative detection of nucleic acid amplification in real-time.

Gandelman Olga A OA Church Vicki L VL Moore Cathy A CA Kiddle Guy G Carne Christopher A CA Parmar Surendra S Jalal Hamid H Tisi Laurence C LC Murray James A H JA

PloS one 20101130 11

<h4>Background</h4>The real-time monitoring of polynucleotide amplification is at the core of most molecular assays. This conventionally relies on fluorescent detection of the amplicon produced, requiring complex and costly hardware, often restricting it to specialised laboratories.<h4>Principal findings</h4>Here we report the first real-time, closed-tube luminescent reporter system for nucleic acid amplification technologies (NAATs) enabling the progress of amplification to be continuously moni ...[more]

PMID: 21152399

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Project description:Nucleic acid amplification tests that are coupled with a digital readout enable the absolute quantification of single molecules, even at ultralow concentrations. Digital methods are robust, versatile and compatible with many amplification chemistries including isothermal amplification, making them particularly invaluable to assays that require sensitive detection, such as the quantification of viral load in occult infections or detection of sparse amounts of DNA from forensic samples. A number of microfluidic platforms are being developed for carrying out digital amplification. However, the mechanistic investigation and optimization of digital assays has been limited by the lack of real-time kinetic information about which factors affect the digital efficiency and analytical sensitivity of a reaction. Commercially available instruments that are capable of tracking digital reactions in real-time are restricted to only a small number of device types and sample-preparation strategies. Thus, most researchers who wish to develop, study, or optimize digital assays rely on the rate of the amplification reaction when performed in a bulk experiment, which is now recognized as an unreliable predictor of digital efficiency. To expand our ability to study how digital reactions proceed in real-time and enable us to optimize both the digital efficiency and analytical sensitivity of digital assays, we built a custom large-format digital real-time amplification instrument that can accommodate a wide variety of devices, amplification chemistries and sample-handling conditions. Herein, we validate this instrument, we provide detailed schematics that will enable others to build their own custom instruments, and we include a complete custom software suite to collect and analyze the data retrieved from the instrument. We believe assay optimizations enabled by this instrument will improve the current limits of nucleic acid detection and quantification, improving our fundamental understanding of single-molecule reactions and providing advancements in practical applications such as medical diagnostics, forensics and environmental sampling.

Project description:BackgroundThere is an increasing need for quantitative technologies suitable for molecular detection in a variety of settings for applications including food traceability and monitoring of genetically modified (GM) crops and their products through the food processing chain. Conventional molecular diagnostics utilising real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and fluorescence-based determination of amplification require temperature cycling and relatively complex optics. In contrast, isothermal amplification coupled to a bioluminescent output produced in real-time (BART) occurs at a constant temperature and only requires a simple light detection and integration device.ResultsLoop mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) shows robustness to sample-derived inhibitors. Here we show the applicability of coupled LAMP and BART reactions (LAMP-BART) for determination of genetically modified (GM) maize target DNA at low levels of contamination (0.1-5.0% GM) using certified reference material, and compare this to RT-PCR. Results show that conventional DNA extraction methods developed for PCR may not be optimal for LAMP-BART quantification. Additionally, we demonstrate that LAMP is more tolerant to plant sample-derived inhibitors, and show this can be exploited to develop rapid extraction techniques suitable for simple field-based qualitative tests for GM status determination. We also assess the effect of total DNA assay load on LAMP-BART quantitation.ConclusionsLAMP-BART is an effective and sensitive technique for GM detection with significant potential for quantification even at low levels of contamination and in samples derived from crops such as maize with a large genome size. The resilience of LAMP-BART to acidic polysaccharides makes it well suited to rapid sample preparation techniques and hence to both high throughput laboratory settings and to portable GM detection applications. The impact of the plant sample matrix and genome loading within a reaction must be controlled to ensure quantification at low target concentrations.

Project description:BACKGROUND: The speed and sensitivity of real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) have made it a popular method for the detection of microbiological agents in both research and clinical specimens. For the detection and genotyping of herpes simplex virus (HSV) in clinical specimens, real-time PCR has proven to be faster, more sensitive and safer than earlier methods which included isolation of the virus in cell culture followed by immunofluorescence microscopy. While PCR-based assays for HSV detection posses clear advantages over these earlier techniques, certain aspects of the PCR method remain onerous. The process of extraction and purification of nucleic acid from clinical specimens prior to PCR is particularly cumbersome. Nucleic acid extraction is expensive, time-consuming and provides a step whereby specimens can become contaminated prior to their analysis. Herein, we investigate the necessity of nucleic acid extraction from swab-based clinical specimens for HSV detection by real-time PCR. We find that nucleic acid extraction is unnecessary for specific and sensitive detection of HSV in clinical specimens using real-time PCR. METHODS: Prospective (n = 36) and retrospective (n = 21) clinical specimens from various anatomical sites were analyzed for the presence of herpes simplex virus 1 or 2 by real-time PCR using the RealArt HSV 1/2 LC PCR Kit. Specimens were analyzed by PCR both before and following automated nucleic acid extraction. PCR using extracted and unextracted specimens was also compared to cell culture as a means of detecting HSV. RESULTS: Detection of HSV 1/2 DNA in clinical specimens by real-time PCR did not require that the specimen be subjected to nucleic acid extraction/purification prior to analysis. Each specimen that was detectable by real-time PCR when analyzed in the extracted form was also detectable when analyzed in the unextracted form using the methods herein. The limit of detection of HSV-1 and HSV-2 particles when analyzed in the unextracted form was found to be approximately 17 and 32 virus particles respectively, compared to a sensitivity of 10 copies, for analysis of purified DNA. Omission of the nucleic acid extraction step shortened both the assay time and cost. CONCLUSION: Omission of the nucleic acid extraction step prior to real-time PCR for detection of herpes simplex virus resulted in a more rapid and cost-effective assay, with little impact upon the sensitivity of detection.

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Novel bioluminescent quantitative detection of nucleic acid amplification in real-time.

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Novel bioluminescent quantitative detection of nucleic acid amplification in real-time.

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