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Rapid and Sensitive Genotyping of SARS-CoV-2 Key Mutation L452R with an RPA- Pf Ago Method.

Chenjie ZhaoLihong YangXue ZhangYixin TangYue WangXiaofu ShaoSong GaoXin LiuPei Wang
Published in: Analytical chemistry (2022)
In the two years of COVID-19 pandemic, the SARS-CoV-2 variants have caused waves of infections one after another, and the pandemic is not ending. The key mutations on the S protein enable the variants with enhanced viral infectivity, immune evasion, and/or antibody neutralization resistance, bringing difficulties to epidemic prevention and control. In support of precise epidemic control and precision medicine of the virus, a fast and simple genotyping method for the key mutations of SARS-CoV-2 variants needs to be developed. By utilizing the specific recognition and cleavage property of the nuclease Argonaute from Pyrococcus furiosus ( Pf Ago), we developed a recombinase polymerase amplification (RPA) and Pf Ago combined method for a rapid and sensitive genotyping of SARS-CoV-2 key mutation L452R. With a delicate design of the strategy, careful screening of the RPA primers and Pf Ago gDNA, and optimization of the reaction, the method achieves a high sensitivity of a single copy per reaction, which is validated with the pseudovirus. This is the highest sensitivity that can be achieved theoretically and the highest sensitivity as compared to the available SARS-CoV-2 genotyping assays. Using RPA, the procedure of the method is finished within 1.5 h and only needs a minimum laboratorial support, suggesting that the method can be easily applied locally or on-site. The RPA- Pf Ago method established in this study provides a strong support to the precise epidemic control and precision medicine of SARS-CoV-2 variants and can be readily developed for the simultaneous genotyping of multiple SARS-CoV-2 mutations.
Keyphrases
  • sars cov
  • respiratory syndrome coronavirus
  • high throughput
  • genome wide
  • copy number
  • gene expression
  • dna binding
  • nucleic acid
  • binding protein