Evaluation and improvement of isothermal amplification methods for point-of-need plant disease diagnostics.

A number of isothermal DNA amplification technologies claim to be ideal for point-of-need (PON) applications as they enable reactions to be performed using a single-temperature heat source (e.g. water bath). Thus, we examined several isothermal amplification methods focusing on simplicity, cost, sen...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Yiping Zou, Michael Glenn Mason, Jose Ramon Botella
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2020-01-01
Series:PLoS ONE
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0235216
_version_ 1818678430341791744
author Yiping Zou
Michael Glenn Mason
Jose Ramon Botella
author_facet Yiping Zou
Michael Glenn Mason
Jose Ramon Botella
author_sort Yiping Zou
collection DOAJ
description A number of isothermal DNA amplification technologies claim to be ideal for point-of-need (PON) applications as they enable reactions to be performed using a single-temperature heat source (e.g. water bath). Thus, we examined several isothermal amplification methods focusing on simplicity, cost, sensitivity and reproducibility to identify the most suitable method(s) for low resource PON applications. A number of methods were found unsuitable as they either involved multiple temperature incubations, were relatively expensive or required relatively large amounts target DNA for amplification. Among the methods examined, loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) and recombinase polymerase amplification (RPA) were found to be the most suitable for PON applications as they are both single step methods that provide highly sensitive and reproducible amplifications. The speed of LAMP reactions was greatly enhanced, up to 76%, with the addition of loop primers while the presence of swarm primers and the sequestration of free magnesium ions with nucleotides also enhanced the amplification speed. In contrast, we were unable to enhance RPA's performance from the original published literature. While both RPA and LAMP have some drawbacks, either isothermal technology can reliably be used for on-site diagnostics with minimal equipment.
first_indexed 2024-12-17T09:15:08Z
format Article
id doaj.art-32a902ed1cae4954b65d2b2f4b5fcec9
institution Directory Open Access Journal
issn 1932-6203
language English
last_indexed 2024-12-17T09:15:08Z
publishDate 2020-01-01
publisher Public Library of Science (PLoS)
record_format Article
series PLoS ONE
spelling doaj.art-32a902ed1cae4954b65d2b2f4b5fcec92022-12-21T21:55:00ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032020-01-01156e023521610.1371/journal.pone.0235216Evaluation and improvement of isothermal amplification methods for point-of-need plant disease diagnostics.Yiping ZouMichael Glenn MasonJose Ramon BotellaA number of isothermal DNA amplification technologies claim to be ideal for point-of-need (PON) applications as they enable reactions to be performed using a single-temperature heat source (e.g. water bath). Thus, we examined several isothermal amplification methods focusing on simplicity, cost, sensitivity and reproducibility to identify the most suitable method(s) for low resource PON applications. A number of methods were found unsuitable as they either involved multiple temperature incubations, were relatively expensive or required relatively large amounts target DNA for amplification. Among the methods examined, loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) and recombinase polymerase amplification (RPA) were found to be the most suitable for PON applications as they are both single step methods that provide highly sensitive and reproducible amplifications. The speed of LAMP reactions was greatly enhanced, up to 76%, with the addition of loop primers while the presence of swarm primers and the sequestration of free magnesium ions with nucleotides also enhanced the amplification speed. In contrast, we were unable to enhance RPA's performance from the original published literature. While both RPA and LAMP have some drawbacks, either isothermal technology can reliably be used for on-site diagnostics with minimal equipment.https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0235216
spellingShingle Yiping Zou
Michael Glenn Mason
Jose Ramon Botella
Evaluation and improvement of isothermal amplification methods for point-of-need plant disease diagnostics.
PLoS ONE
title Evaluation and improvement of isothermal amplification methods for point-of-need plant disease diagnostics.
title_full Evaluation and improvement of isothermal amplification methods for point-of-need plant disease diagnostics.
title_fullStr Evaluation and improvement of isothermal amplification methods for point-of-need plant disease diagnostics.
title_full_unstemmed Evaluation and improvement of isothermal amplification methods for point-of-need plant disease diagnostics.
title_short Evaluation and improvement of isothermal amplification methods for point-of-need plant disease diagnostics.
title_sort evaluation and improvement of isothermal amplification methods for point of need plant disease diagnostics
url https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0235216
work_keys_str_mv AT yipingzou evaluationandimprovementofisothermalamplificationmethodsforpointofneedplantdiseasediagnostics
AT michaelglennmason evaluationandimprovementofisothermalamplificationmethodsforpointofneedplantdiseasediagnostics
AT joseramonbotella evaluationandimprovementofisothermalamplificationmethodsforpointofneedplantdiseasediagnostics