• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.52 no.3
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• pp.305-310
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• 2014

Ascidian soft tunic syndrome (AsSTS) caused by Azumiobodo hoyamushi (A. hoyamushi) is a serious aquaculture problem that results in mass mortality of ascidians. Accordingly, the early and accurate detection of A. hoyamushi would contribute substantially to disease management and prevention of transmission. Recently, the loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) method was adopted for clinical diagnosis of a range of infectious diseases. Here, the authors describe a rapid and efficient LAMP-based method targeting the 18S rDNA gene for detection of A. hoyamushi using ascidian DNA for the diagnosis of AsSTS. A. hoyamushi LAMP assay amplified the DNA of 0.01 parasites per reaction and detected A. hoyamushi in 10 ng of ascidian DNA. To validate A. hoyamushi 18S rDNA LAMP assays, AsSTS-suspected and non-diseased ascidians were examined by microscopy, PCR, and by using the LAMP assay. When PCR was used as a gold standard, the LAMP assay showed good agreement in terms of sensitivity, positive predictive value (PPV), and negative predictive value (NPV). In the present study, a LAMP assay based on directly heat-treated samples was found to be as efficient as DNA extraction using a commercial kit for detecting A. hoyamushi. Taken together, this study shows the devised A. hoyamushi LAMP assay could be used to diagnose AsSTS in a straightforward, sensitive, and specific manner, that it could be used for forecasting, surveillance, and quarantine of AsSTS.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.28 no.11
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• pp.1928-1936
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• 2018

Recently, human infections caused by severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome virus (SFTSV), which can lead to fatality, have dramatically increased in East Asia. With the unavailability of vaccines or antiviral drugs to prevent and/or treat SFTSV infection, early rapid diagnosis is critical for prevention and control of the disease. Here, we report the development of a simple, rapid and sensitive portable detection method for SFTSV infection applying reverse transcription-loop mediated isothermal amplification (RT-LAMP) combined with one-pot colorimetric visualization and electro-free reaction platform. This method utilizes a pocket warmer to facilitate diagnosis in a resource-limited setting. Specific primers were designed to target the highly-conserved region of L gene of SFTSV. The detection limit of the RT-LAMP assay was approximately $10^0$ viral genome copies from three different SFTSV strains. This assay exhibited comparable sensitivity to qRT-PCR and 10-fold more sensitivity than conventional RT-PCR, with a rapid detection time of 30 to 60 minutes. The RT-LAMP assay using SFTSV clinical specimens has demonstrated a similar detection rate to qRT-PCR and a higher detection rate compared to conventional RT-PCR. Moreover, there was no observed cross-reactive amplification of other human infectious viruses including Japanese Encephalitis Virus (JEV), Dengue, Enterovirus, Zika, Influenza and Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus (MERS-CoV). This highly sensitive, electro- and equipment-free rapid colorimetric visualization method is feasible for resource-limited SFTSV field diagnosis.

• Korean journal of applied entomology
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• v.56 no.4
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• pp.377-385
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• 2017

Estimates of evolutionary sequence divergence and inference of a phylogenetic tree for eight delphacid planthopper species were based on the full-length nucleotide sequence of the internal transcribed spacer 2 (ITS2) region. Size of the ITS2 DNA sequence varied from 550 bp in Sogatella furcifera to 699 bp in Nilaparvata muiri. Nucleotide sequence distance ($d{\pm}S.E.$) was lowest between N. muiri and N. bakeri ($0.001{\pm}0.001$), and highest between Ecdelphax cervina and Stenocranus matsumurai ($0.579{\pm}0.021$). Sequence distance between N. lugens and other planthoppers ranged from $0.056{\pm}0.008$ (N. muiri) to $0.548{\pm}0.021$ (S. matsumurai). In the neighbor-joining phylogenetic tree, all planthoppers were clustered separately into a species group, except N. muiri and N. bakeri. The ITS2 nucleotide sequence of N. lugens was used to design four loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) primer sets (BPH-38, BPH-38-1, BPH-207, and BPH-92) for N. lugens species-specific detection. After the LAMP reaction of three rice planthoppers, N. lugens, S. furcifera, and Laodelphax striatellus, with the four LAMP primer sets for 60 min at $65^{\circ}C$, LAMP products were observed in the genomic DNA of N. lugens only. In the BPH-92 LAMP primer set, the fluorescence relative to that of the negative control differed according to the amount of DNA (0.1 ng, 10 ng, and 100 ng) and incubation duration (20 min, 30 min, 40 min, and 60 min). At $65^{\circ}C$ incubation, the difference was clearly observed after 40 min with 10 ng and100 ng, but with a 60-min incubation period, the minimum DNA needed was 0.1 ng. However, there was little difference in fluorescence among all DNA amounts tested with 20 or 30 min incubations.

• Journal of Food Hygiene and Safety
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• v.34 no.3
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• pp.277-282
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• 2019

The object of this study is to compare the performance of the 3M Molecular Detection Assay 2 (3M MDA 2) and the Korea Standard Food Codex (KSFC) Method (i.e., isolation media and real-time PCR) in detecting Salmonella Typhimurium and Listeria monocytogenes in traditional Korean foods. Yuk-hwe and Yuk-sashimi (types of raw beef dishes) were artificially inoculated with $10^0-10^4CFU/25g$ of L. monocytogenes and S. Typhimurium. Citrobacter freundii and Listeria innocua were used as competitive microflora. After enrichment, the samples were analyzed using 3M MDA 2 and real-time PCR. All samples inoculated at concentrations of $10^0-10^4CFU/25g$ without competitive microflora were positive for S. Typhimurium and L. monocytogenes, as detected by 3M MDA 2 and Korea Standard Food Codex (KFSC) Method. In addition, part of the samples were positive for the presence of C. freundii and L. innocua. The 3M MDA 2 - Salmonella and Korea Standard Food Codex (KFSC) Method showed similar detection performances in Yuk-hwe and Yuk-sashimi. The 3M MDA 2 method for Salmonella and Listeria, which is a LAMP-based technology, can be used for rapid detection of S. Typhimurium and L. monocytogenes in raw beef. LAMP bioluminescence assays provide results on the subsequent day and are simple to use compared with the Korea Standard Food Codex (KFSC) Method, particularly in terms of DNA preparation.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.31 no.4
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• pp.610-620
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• 2021

There has been increasing interest in the head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) that is caused by high-risk human papillomavirus (HR-HPV) and has posed a significant challenge to Otolaryngologists. A rapid, sensitive, and reliable method is required for the detection of HR-HPV in clinical specimens to prevent and treat HPV-induced diseases. In this study, a multiple cross-linking spiral amplification (MCLSA) assay was developed for the visual detection of HPV-16. In the MCLSA assay, samples were incubated under optimized conditions at 62℃ for 45 min, and after mixing with the SYBR Green I (SGI) dye, the positive amplicons showed bright green fluorescence while the negative amplicons exhibited no obvious change. The specificity test revealed that the developed MCLSA technique had high specificity and could effectively distinguish all five HPV-16 strains from other pathogenic microorganisms. In terms of analytical sensitivity, the limit of detection (LoD) of MCLSA assay was approximately 5.4 × 101 copies/tube, which was 10-fold more sensitive than loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) and RT-PCR. The detection results of laryngeal cancer specimens collected from 46 patients with suspected HPV infection in the Liaoning region demonstrated that the positive detection rates of MCLSA and hybridized capture 2 kit were 32.61% (15/46). The true positive rate of the MCLSA assay was higher than that of RT-PCR (100% vs. 93.33%) and LAMP (100% vs. 86.67%). Therefore, the MCLSA assay developed in the present study could be a potentially useful tool for the point-of-care (PoC) diagnosis of HR-HPV, especially in resource-limited countries.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.20 no.6
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• pp.866-871
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• 2007

Testis-specific protein (TSPY) is a Y-specific gene, with up to 200 copy numbers in bulls. In order to make bovine embryo sexing under farm condition more feasible, the possibility of using a non-electrophoretic method to detect the TSPY gene for sexing bovine early embryos was examined. Primers were designed to amplify a portion of the TSPY gene and a common gene as an internal control primer. PCR optimization was carried out using a DNA template from bovine whole blood. Furthermore, embryo samples were diagnosed by this method and the sexing results were contrasted with those of the Loop-Mediated Isothermal Amplification (LAMP) method. The results showed that TSPY was as reliable a sexing method as LAMP. Forty-three morula and blastocyst embryos collected from superovulated donor dairy cattle were sexed by this method, and twenty-one embryos judged to be female embryos were transferred non-surgically to recipients 6 to 8 days after natural estrus. Out of 21 recipients, 9 were pregnant (42.86%) and all delivered female calves. The results showed that the sex predicted by this protocol was 100% accurate. In conclusion, the TSPY gene was a good male specific marker and indicated that a non-electrophoretic method was feasible and accurate to detect the TSPY gene for sexing preimplantation bovine embryos.

• Journal of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.55 no.2
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• pp.262-267
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• 2011

The denaturing high performance liquid chromatography(DHPLC) with fluorescence detector assay is very useful tool for detecting nucleic acids. Furthermore, loop-mediated isothermal amplification(LAMP) constitutes a potentially valuable tool for rapid diagnosis of pathogenic microorganisms. In this study, we evaluated the specificity, detection limit, and sensitivity of a LAMP method and DHPLC method for rapid detection of the hepatitis b virus(HBV). As a result, the LAMP assay reported here has the advantage of rapid detection whereas, DHPLC assay has more sensitivity than other assays. These findings suggest that LAMP and DHPLC assay may be good tool for rapid diagnosis of clinical HBV infection.

• Korean Journal of Veterinary Service
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• v.44 no.3
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• pp.163-168
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• 2021

The rapid and reliable detection of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) plays a key role in isolating infected patients and preventing further viral transmission. In this study, we evaluated the clinical diagnostic performances of a commercial real-time reverse transcription loop-mediated isothermal amplification (RRT-LAMP) assay (Isopollo^® COVID-2 assay, M-monitor, Daegu, Korea) using eighty COVID-19 suspected clinical samples and compared these with the results of a commercial real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) assay (Allplex^TM 2019-nCoV rRT-QPCR Assay, SeeGene, Seoul, Korea). The results of the RRT-LAMP assay targeting the N or RdRp gene of SARS-CoV-2 showed perfect agreement with the RT-qPCR assay results in terms of detection. Furthermore, the RRT-LAMP assay was completed in just within a 20-min reaction time, which is significantly faster than about the 2 h currently required for the RT-qPCR assay, thus enabling prompt decision making regarding the isolation of infected patients. The RRT-LAMP assay will be a valuable tool for rapid, sensitive, and specific detection of SARS-CoV-2 in human or unexpected animal clinical cases.

• Pediatric Infection and Vaccine
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.106-112
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• 2015

Purpose: The long-term administration of antibiotics interferes with bacterial culture in the middle ear fluids (MEFs) of young children with otitis media with effusion (OME). The purpose of this study is to determine whether molecular diagnostics can be used for rapid and direct detection of the bacterial pathogen in culture-negative MEFs. Methods: The specificity and sensitivity of both polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) to the lytA gene of Streptococcus pneumoniae were comparatively tested and then applied for pneumococcal detection in the clinical MEFs. Results: The detection limit of the PCR assay was approximately $10^4$ colony forming units (CFU), whereas that of LAMP was less than 10 CFU for the detection of S. pneumoniae. Both PCR and LAMP did not amplify nucleic acid at over $10^6$ CFU of H. influenzae or M. catarrhalis, both of which were irrelevant bacterial species. Of 22 culture-negative MEFs from children with OME, LAMP positivity was found in twelve MEFs (54.5%, 12/22), only three of which were PCR-positive (25%, 3/12). Our results showed that the ability of LAMP to detect pneumococcal DNA is over four times higher than that of PCR (P<0.01). Conclusions: As a high-resolution tool able to detect nucleic acid levels equivalent to <10 CFU of S. pneumoniae in MEFs without any cross-reaction with other pathogens, lytA -specific LAMP may be applied for diagnosing pneumococcus infection in OME as well as evaluating the impact of a pneumococcal conjugate vaccine against OME.

• Korean journal of applied entomology
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• v.57 no.4
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• pp.393-399
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• 2018

A loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) primer set (WBPH-65) was designed for the species-specific detection of white-backed planthopper (WBPH) Sogatella furcifera based on the full-length sequence of the internal transcribed spacer 2 (ITS2) (KC417469.1). The WBPH-65 primer set consists of six primers (total 165 bp), F3 (18 bp), B3 (18 bp), FIP (43 bp), BIP (40 bp), LF (21 bp), and LB (25 bp). After the LAMP reaction of three rice planthoppers, S. furcifera, Nilaparvata lugens, and Laodelphax striatellus, with the WBPH-65 primer set for 60 min at $65^{\circ}C$, the LAMP products were observed in the genomic DNA of S. furcifera only. According to the DNA amount of S. furcifera and incubation duration at $65^{\circ}C$, the difference of fluorescence relative to the negative control (0 ng) was clearly observed in a 40-min incubation with 10 and 100 ng or in case of 60-min incubation with 0.01, 0.1, 1, 10, and 100 ng. There was little difference in fluorescence between the negative control and all the other DNAs tested in 20- and 30-min incubations. On the other hand, the WBPH-65 primer set without LF and LB primers showed little amplification in the genomic DNAs of the three rice planthoppers, S. furcifera, N. lugens, and L. striatellus in a 60-min incubation. These results suggest that all six primers (F3, B3, FIP, BIP, LF, and BF) are necessary for the WBPH-65 primer set to detect S. furcifera within a 60-min incubation, and is able to discriminate S. furcifera from at least N. lugens and L. striatellus.