One New Method of Nucleic Acid Amplification-Loop-mediated Isothermal Amplification of DNA

Loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) is a novel nucleic acid amplification method, which amplifies DNA with high specificity, sensitivity, rapidity and efficiency under isothermal conditions using a set of four specially designed primers and a Bst DNA polymerase with strand displacement activity. The basic principle, characteristics, development of LAMP and its applications are summarized in this article.     

核酸恒温扩增技术研究进展

核酸恒温扩增技术在生命科学研究及相关诸多领域已经得到了广泛应用。我们对核酸恒温扩增技术的最新进展作一简要综述,包括环介导恒温扩增、链替代扩增、依赖核酸序列的扩增、滚环扩增、切口酶核酸恒温扩增、依赖解旋酶的恒温扩增、转录依赖的扩增、杂交捕获法、转录介导的扩增等的原理、优缺点及应用。     

等温核酸扩增技术在病原体检测中的应用

近年来,新型传染病相继爆发,如严重急性呼吸综合征（severe acute respiratory syndrome,SARS）、H7N9禽流感等,严重威胁着人类健康和社会、经济的可持续发展,同时给传染病的防控带来了严峻挑战。病原体检测是传染病防控的重要环节,越来越多的新技术被应用其中。等温核酸扩增技术作为一种快速、灵敏度高的病原体检测技术,已取得了长足发展。对等温核酸扩增技术的原理、重要特性及其在病原体检测中的应用进展进行了较为全面的综述,以期为这一技术的推广和应用提供重要参考。     

基于微流控芯片的核酸等温扩增技术研究进展

核酸等温扩增技术是一种在恒温体系内对核酸进行高效扩增的分子扩增技术,它能够在短时间内实现目的基因的指数增长.微流控芯片(microfluidic chip)技术是把研究样品制备、核酸富集、纯化和检测等多个操作步骤集成到一块“微型化”的芯片上,经自动化处理,得出实验结果,即“样品进,结果出”.将核酸等温扩增技术与微流控芯...     

核酸体外扩增技术

核酸体外扩增是分子生物学研究的基础。随着生物技术的发展 ,出现了越来越多的核酸体外扩增技术。根据其特点可分为两类 :一类是靶核酸的直接扩增 ,如聚合酶链式反应、链替代扩增、连接酶链式反应、核酸依赖的扩增、Qβ复制、转录介导的扩增和滚环扩增等 ;另一类是信号放大扩增 ,如支链DNA、侵染探针等。就现有的核酸扩增技术的原理、特点及应用进行介绍。     

环介导等温扩增核酸技术及其应用

环介导等温扩增(loop-mediated isothermal amplification,简称LAMP)是利用4个特殊设计的引物和具有链置换活性的DNA聚合酶,在恒温条件下特异、高效、快速地扩增DNA的新技术。该技术在1h内能扩增出109靶序列拷贝,扩增产物是一系列反向重复的靶序列构成的茎环结构和多环花椰菜样结构的DNA片段的混合物,电泳后在凝胶上显现出由不同大小的区带组成的阶梯式图谱。LAMP技术以其特异性强、灵敏度高、快速、准确和操作简便等优点在核酸的科学研究、疾病的诊断和转基因食品检测等领域得到了日益广泛的应用。     

Nucleic Acid Amplification Strategies for DNA Microarray-Based Pathogen Detection

DNA microarray-based screening and diagnostic technologies have long promised comprehensive testing capabilities. However, the potential of these powerful tools has been limited by front-end target-specific nucleic acid amplification. Despite the sensitivity and specificity associated with PCR amplification, the inherent bias and limited throughput of this approach constrain the principal benefits of downstream microarray-based applications, especially for pathogen detection. To begin addressing alternative approaches, we investigated four front-end amplification strategies: random primed, isothermal Klenow fragment-based, 29 DNA polymerase-based, and multiplex PCR. The utility of each amplification strategy was assessed by hybridizing amplicons to microarrays consisting of 70-mer oligonucleotide probes specific for enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli O157:H7 and by quantitating their sensitivities for the detection of O157:H7 in laboratory and environmental samples. Although nearly identical levels of hybridization specificity were achieved for each method, multiplex PCR was at least 3 orders of magnitude more sensitive than any individual random amplification approach. However, the use of Klenow-plus-Klenow and 29 polymerase-plus-Klenow tandem random amplification strategies provided better sensitivities than multiplex PCR. In addition, amplification biases among the five genetic loci tested were 2- to 20-fold for the random approaches, in contrast to >4 orders of magnitude for multiplex PCR. The same random amplification strategies were also able to detect all five diagnostic targets in a spiked environmental water sample that contained a 63-fold excess of contaminating DNA. The results presented here underscore the feasibility of using random amplification approaches and begin to systematically address the versatility of these approaches for unbiased pathogen detection from environmental sources.     

Development of a Loop-Mediated Isothermal Amplification Assay for Porcine Circovirus Type 2

In this study, the loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) method was used to develop a rapid and simple detection system for porcine circovirus type 2 (PCV2). According to the PCV2 sequences published in GenBank, multiple LAMP primers were designed targeting conserved sequences of PCV2. Using the DNA extracted from PCV2 isolates HUN-09 and SD-09 as the template, LAMP reactions in a PCV2 LAMP system was performed, the amplification products were detected by adding SYBR Green I and could be observed di...     

New Strategies for the Chemical Synthesis of Biologically Important Nucleic Acid Derivatives

Abstract

This paper describes general methods for the synthesis of N-phosphorylated ribonucleosides and oligonucleotides containing a 2′-O-phosphorylated or 2′-O-thiophosphorylated ribonucleoside. The NMR-based conformational analysis and computational molecular dynamics simulation of the 2′-O-phosphorylated ribonucleoside residue in such modified oligonucleotides suggested that the ribose residue existed preferentially in a C2′-endo conformation. It was also found that simple heating of 2′-O-phosphorylated oligonucleotides resulted in rapid dethiophosphorylation.     

Towards a Chemical Etiology of Nucleic Acid Structure

To Leslie E. Orgel, arbiter elegantiarum of contemporary origin-of-life science and far-sighted pioneer of non-enzymic molecular replication, on the occasion of his 70th birthday, with cordial congratulations and best wishes.In the sequel of some general remarks on a chemical etiology of nucleic-acid structure, the paper presents a reproduction of the sequence of slides which were shown in the author's lecture Pyranosyl-RNA at the 8. ISSOL Conference in Orléans. Each slide figure is accompanied by a short explanatory comment.     

Real-Time Nucleic Acid Sequence-Based Amplification Assay for Detection of Hepatitis A Virus

A nucleic acid sequence-based amplification (NASBA) assay in combination with a molecular beacon was developed for the real-time detection and quantification of hepatitis A virus (HAV). A 202-bp, highly conserved 5′ noncoding region of HAV was targeted. The sensitivity of the real-time NASBA assay was tested with 10-fold dilutions of viral RNA, and a detection limit of 1 PFU was obtained. The specificity of the assay was demonstrated by testing with other environmental pathogens and indicator microorganisms, with only HAV positively identified. When combined with immunomagnetic separation, the NASBA assay successfully detected as few as 10 PFU from seeded lake water samples. Due to its isothermal nature, its speed, and its similar sensitivity compared to the real-time RT-PCR assay, this newly reported real-time NASBA method will have broad applications for the rapid detection of HAV in contaminated food or water.     

用于新型冠状病毒检测的核酸等温扩增技术研究进展

核酸检测作为新型冠状病毒肺炎(COVID-19)筛查诊断和病情监测的主要手段,在疫情防控中发挥了重要作用。虽然实时荧光定量PCR被认为是新型冠状病毒(SARS-CoV-2)核酸检测的金标准,但其依赖荧光定量PCR仪且扩增检测时间较长,难以实现现场快速检测。因此许多基于核酸等温扩增的SARS-CoV-2检测方法相继诞生。等温扩增对仪器温控要求不高,通过与微流控芯片和可视化检测技术结合,可进一步简化操作、降低成本,为SARS-CoV-2现场快速筛查提供有力的技术支撑。本文围绕已报道的SARS-CoV-2等温扩增检测方法原理、检测性能及优缺点进行探讨,为进一步发展SARS-CoV-2现场快速检测平台提供参考。     

Detection of Vibrio cholerae by Real-Time Nucleic Acid Sequence-Based Amplification

A multitarget molecular beacon-based real-time nucleic acid sequence-based amplification (NASBA) assay for the specific detection of Vibrio cholerae has been developed. The genes encoding the cholera toxin (ctxA), the toxin-coregulated pilus (tcpA; colonization factor), the ctxA toxin regulator (toxR), hemolysin (hlyA), and the 60-kDa chaperonin product (groEL) were selected as target sequences for detection. The beacons for the five different genetic targets were evaluated by serial dilution of RNA from V. cholerae cells. RNase treatment of the nucleic acids eliminated all NASBA, whereas DNase treatment had no effect, showing that RNA and not DNA was amplified. The specificity of the assay was investigated by testing several isolates of V. cholerae, other Vibrio species, and Bacillus cereus, Salmonella enterica, and Escherichia coli strains. The toxR, groEL, and hlyA beacons identified all V. cholerae isolates, whereas the ctxA and tcpA beacons identified the O1 toxigenic clinical isolates. The NASBA assay detected V. cholerae at 50 CFU/ml by using the general marker groEL and tcpA that specifically indicates toxigenic strains. A correlation between cell viability and NASBA was demonstrated for the ctxA, toxR, and hlyA targets. RNA isolated from different environmental water samples spiked with V. cholerae was specifically detected by NASBA. These results indicate that NASBA can be used in the rapid detection of V. cholerae from various environmental water samples. This method has a strong potential for detecting toxigenic strains by using the tcpA and ctxA markers. The entire assay including RNA extraction and NASBA was completed within 3 h.     

环介导等温扩增核酸技术及其在食品安全检测领域的应用

环介导等温扩增(Loop-mediated isothermal amplification,简称LAMP)是利用能识别靶序列上6个位点的4个特殊设计的引物和一种具有链置换活性的DNA聚合酶,在恒温条件下,特异、高效、快速地扩增核酸的新技术。该技术在1h内扩增效率可达到109-1010个数量级,扩增产物是一系列反向重复的靶序列构成的茎环结构和多环花椰菜样结构的DNA片段混合物,电泳后在凝胶上显现出由不同大小的区带组成的阶梯式图谱。近年来LAMP技术以其特异性强、等温灵敏、操作简单、产物易检测等优点已经应用于食品安全检测领域的多个方面。     

Locked Nucleic Acid Pentamers as Universal PCR Primers for Genomic DNA Amplification

Background

Multiplexing technologies, which allow for simultaneous detection of multiple nucleic acid sequences in a single reaction, can save a lot of time, cost and labor compared to traditional single reaction detection methods. However, the multiplexing method currently used requires precise handiwork and many complicated steps, making a new, simpler technique desirable. Oligonucleotides containing locked nucleic acid residues are an attractive tool because they have strong affinities for their complementary targets, they have been used to avoid dimer formation and mismatch hybridization and to enhance efficient priming. In this study, we aimed to investigate the use of locked nucleic acid pentamers for genomic DNA amplification and multiplex genotyping.

Results

We designed locked nucleic acid pentamers as universal PCR primers for genomic DNA amplification. The locked nucleic acid pentamers were able to prime amplification of the selected sequences within the investigated genomes, and the resulting products were similar in length to those obtained by restriction digest. In Real Time PCR of genomic DNA from three bacterial species, locked nucleic acid pentamers showed high priming efficiencies. Data from bias tests demonstrated that locked nucleic acid pentamers have equal affinities for each of the six genes tested from the Klebsiella pneumoniae genome. Combined with suspension array genotyping, locked nucleic acid pentamer-based PCR amplification was able to identify a total of 15 strains, including 3 species of bacteria, by gene- and species-specific probes. Among the 32 species used in the assay, 28 species and 50 different genes were clearly identified using this method.

Conclusion

As a novel genomic DNA amplification, the use of locked nucleic acid pentamers as universal primer pairs in conjunction with suspension array genotyping, allows for the identification of multiple distinct genes or species with a single amplification procedure. This demonstrates that locked nucleic acid pentamer-based PCR can be utilized extensively in pathogen identification.     

Development of Lentivirus-Based Reference Materials for Ebola Virus Nucleic Acid Amplification Technology-Based Assays

The 2013-present Ebola virus outbreak in Western Africa has prompted the production of many diagnostic assays, mostly based on nucleic acid amplification technologies (NAT). The calibration and performance assessment of established assays and those under evaluation requires reference materials that can be used in parallel with the clinical sample to standardise or control for every step of the procedure, from extraction to the final qualitative/quantitative result. We have developed safe and stable Ebola virus RNA reference materials by encapsidating anti sense viral RNA into HIV-1-like particles. The lentiviral particles are replication-deficient and non-infectious due to the lack of HIV-1 genes and Envelope protein. Ebola virus genes were subcloned for encapsidation into two lentiviral preparations, one containing NP-VP35-GP and the other VP40 and L RNA. Each reference material was formulated as a high-titre standard for use as a calibrator for secondary or internal standards, and a 10,000-fold lower titre preparation to serve as an in-run control. The preparations have been freeze-dried to maximise stability. These HIV-Ebola virus RNA reference materials were suitable for use with in-house and commercial quantitative RT-PCR assays and with digital RT-PCR. The HIV-Ebola virus RNA reference materials are stable at up to 37°C for two weeks, allowing the shipment of the material worldwide at ambient temperature. These results support further evaluation of the HIV-Ebola virus RNA reference materials as part of an International collaborative study for the establishment of the 1^st International Standard for Ebola virus RNA.     

NASBA(依赖核酸序列的扩增)及其在病毒检测中的应用

NASBA(nucleic acid sequence based amplification)即依赖核酸序列的扩增技术,是一种扩增RNA的新技术,是由一对引物介导的、连续均一的、体外特异核苷酸序列等温扩增的酶促反应过程。反应在42℃进行,可以在2h左右将模板RNA扩增约109~12倍,不需特殊的仪器。NASBA已经广泛应用于细菌、病毒等多种病原微生物的检测,就NASBA的技术原理及其在病毒检测中的应用作一综述。     

体外核酸快速扩增技术的发展和不断创新

利用聚合酶链式反应(PCR)进行的核酸体外扩增是1983年开始发展起来的一项革命性技术,目前已被广泛运用于现代化的农业和医学以及食品工业等领域,特别是在人类认知基因和基因组的过程中,体外核酸扩增技术做出了卓越的贡献。最初,体外核酸扩增技术主要是利用耐高温的DNA聚合酶(Taq酶),这样就使核酸的体外扩增反应可以在热循环中进行。但因需要使用昂贵的设备和消耗大量的电力,其成本和应用范围都受到一定的限制。之后,恒温体外核酸扩增悄然兴起,这改变了传统扩增技术的局限性,使核酸的体外扩增更加简单和方便。重组酶介导扩增(RAA)法是一种最新型的恒温体外核酸扩增技术,该系统的显著优点在于它在常温下就能实现DNA解链并快速扩增(15~30min完成),反应快速、专一性好、灵敏度高,还可用于定时定量的结果分析。     

The Synthesis of Branched Oligonucleotides as Signal Amplification Multimers for Use in Nucleic Acid Assays

Abstract

Branched oligonucleotides have been synthesized using phosphoramidite derivatives with two protected hydroxyl functions. These molecules are employed for a label amplification strategy used in DNA probe diagnostics.     

Evaluation of LightCycler as a Platform for Nucleic Acid Sequence-Based Amplification (NASBA) in Real-Time Detection of Enteroviruses

The nucleic acid sequence-based amplification (NASBA) assay has been demonstrated to be more sensitive for detection of enteroviruses (EV) than RT-PCR. Many laboratories, however, do not have a dedicated instrument for the NASBA assay. This study aimed to evaluate the use of the Roche LightCycler as a platform for performing the NASBA assay for detection of EV. A diverse subgenera of EV were used to assess the specificity of the NASBA assay, including coxsackie, echovirus, poliovirus, and other enteroviruses together with related and unrelated viruses, including rhinovirus, respiratory syncytial virus, herpes simplex virus, adenovirus, influenza virus A, and cytomegalovirus. All species of EV tested were successfully detected using NASBA and no cross reactivity with other viruses was observed. Using serial dilutions of EV to assess sensitivity, the NASBA assay was compared to an in-house EV RT-PCR assay. The NASBA assay demonstrated a higher level of sensitivity. Fifty-one clinical samples positive for EV by viral culture were also evaluated. All NASBA results obtained were concordant with viral culture results. This study confirmed that the NASBA assay for the detection of EV could be readily performed on the LightCycler and easily incorporated into the workflow of a diagnostic laboratory equipped with a LightCycler, thereby eliminating the need for additional instrumentation.