Publications
The Journal of molecular diagnostics : JMDApr 2023 DOI:
10.1016/j.jmoldx.2023.03.009

Real-Time, Multiplexed SHERLOCK for in Vitro Diagnostics

Pena, Jennifer M; Manning, Brendan J; Li, Xiang; Fiore, Elizabeth S; Carlson, Leah; Shytle, Kristen; Nguyen, Peter P; Azmi, Ishara; Larsen, Alex; Wilson, Mary K; Singh, Subha; DeMeo, Marisa C; Ramesh, Pradeep; Boisvert, Heike; Blake, William J
Product Used
Genes
Abstract
The pandemic caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has highlighted the need for simple, low-cost, and scalable diagnostics that can be widely deployed for rapid testing. Clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR)-based diagnostics have emerged as a promising technology, but its implementation in clinical laboratories has been limited by the requirement of a separate amplification step prior to CRISPR-associated (Cas) enzyme-based detection. This article reports the discovery of two novel Cas12 enzymes [STE20-like serine/threonine-protein kinase (SLK)-9 and SLK5-2] that exhibit enzymatic activity at 60°C, which, when combined with loop-mediated isothermal amplification, enable a real-time, single-step nucleic acid detection method (termed real-time SLK, pronounced Sherlock). Real-time SLK was demonstrated to provide accurate results comparable to those from real-time quantitative RT-PCR in clinical samples, with 100% positive and 100% negative percent agreement. The method is further demonstrated to be compatible with direct testing (real-time SLK Direct) of samples from anterior nasal swabs, without the need for standard nucleic acid extraction. Lastly, SLK9 was combined with either Alicyclobacillus acidoterrestris (Aac)-Cas12b or with SLK5-2 to generate a real-time, multiplexed CRISPR-based diagnostic assay for the simultaneous detection of SARS-CoV-2 and a human-based control in a single reaction, with sensitivity down to 5 copies/μL and a time to result of under 30 minutes.
Product Used
Genes

Related Publications