Dipstick-based rapid nucleic acids purification and CRISPR/Cas12a-mediated isothermal amplification for visual detection of African swine fever virus

African swine fever virus (ASFV) can cause highly contagious and fatal disease among domestic pigs, resulting in considerable economic losses for swine breeders. There is a strong demand for accurate, rapid, and simple detection methods especially for on-site application. Nucleic acid testing is the most commonly used method for ASFVdetection. However, traditional nucleic acid purification step is time- and labor-consuming. The nucleic acid purification, amplification and amplicons detection rely on laboratory settings which limits the on-site detection. Here, we proposed a simple and cost-effective detection method that utilized filter paper to purify nucleic acids from swine blood and employed CRISPR/Cas12a-mediated loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) reaction to detect ASFV. The filter paper which was made into dipsticks could effectively purify nucleic acids from whole blood in 2 min. This simple and low-cost purification method avoided multiple pipetting steps and potential amplification inhibitors (e.g., ethanol) that were generally used in traditional nucleic acids extraction processes. After nucleic acid purification, the lyophilized LAMP reagent dissolved by elution solution was employed to perform isothermal amplification reaction on a portable heating block. The CRISPR/Cas12a system was designed to specifically detect amplicons. Assisted by a portable homemade device, the fluorescent signals produced by positive samples could be observed by the naked eye, while negative samples remained colorless. The whole detection procedure could be finished within 50 min with a detection limit of one copies/mu L. This established method provided a novel strategy for rapid visualized detection and showed great potential for on-site application.

Automated summary

This article introduces a simple and cost-effective method for detecting African swine fever virus (ASFV). The method utilizes filter paper to purify nucleic acids from swine blood and employs CRISPR/Cas12a-mediated loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) reaction to detect ASFV. The method does not require complex laboratory conditions, and has the advantages of rapid and visualized detection, making it suitable for on-site application.