Molecular Beacons Allow Specific RT-LAMP Detection of B.1.1.7 Variant SARS-CoV-2 Article Swipe
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· 2021
· Open Access
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· DOI: https://doi.org/10.7171/jbt.21-3203-004
· OA: W4233853700
Over the course of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, several severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) genetic variants of concern have appeared and spread throughout the world. Detection and identification of these variants are important to understanding and controlling their rapid spread. Current detection methods for a particularly concerning variant, B.1.1.7, require expensive quantitative PCR machines and depend on the absence of a signal rather than a positive indicator of variant presence. Here we report an assay using a pair of molecular beacons combined with reverse transcription loop mediated amplification to allow isothermal amplification from saliva to specifically detect B.1.1.7 and other variants that contain a characteristic deletion in the gene encoding the viral spike protein. This assay is specific and affordable and allows multiplexing with other SARS-CoV-2 loop-mediated amplification primer sets.
