• The Plant Pathology Journal
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• v.39 no.1
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• pp.141-148
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• 2023

Black shoot blight disease caused by Erwinia pyrifoliae has serious impacts on quality and yield in pear production in Korea; therefore, rapid and accurate methods for its detection are needed. However, traditional detection methods require a great deal of time and fail to achieve absolute quantification. In the present study, we developed a droplet digital polymerase chain reaction (ddPCR) method for the detection and absolute quantification of E. pyrifoliae using a pair of species-specific primers. The detection range was 10³-10⁷ copies/ml (DNA templates) and cfu/ml (cell culture templates). This new method exhibited good linearity and repeatability and was validated by absolute quantification of E. pyrifoliae DNA copies from samples of artificially inoculated immature pear fruits. Here, we present the first study of ddPCR assay for the detection and quantification of E. pyrifoliae. This method has potential applications in epidemiology and for the early prediction of black shoot blight outbreaks.

• Journal of Animal Reproduction and Biotechnology
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• v.34 no.4
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• pp.259-266
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• 2019

Emulsion polymerase chain reaction (PCR) is performed on compartmentalized DNA, allowing a large number of PCR reactions to be carried out in parallel. Emulsion PCR has unique advantages in DNA amplification. It can be applied in many molecular biological assays, especially those requiring highly sensitive and specific DNA amplification. This review discusses the principle of emulsion PCR and its applications in biotechnology. Related technologies are also discussed.

• The Plant Pathology Journal
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• v.38 no.4
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• pp.417-422
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• 2022

Apple stem grooving virus (ASGV) is a destructive viral pathogen of pome fruit trees that causes significant losses to fruit production worldwide. Obtaining ASGV-free propagation materials is essential to reduce economic losses, and accurate and sensitive detection methods to screen ASGV-free plantlets during in vitro propagation are urgently necessary. In this study, ASGV was sensitively and accurately quantified from in vitro propagated apple plantlets using a reverse transcription droplet digital polymerase chain reaction (RT-ddPCR) assay. The optimized RT-ddPCR assay was specific to other apple viruses, and was at least 10-times more sensitive than RT-real-time quantitative PCR assay. Furthermore, the optimized RT-ddPCR assay was validated for the detection and quantification of ASGV using micropropagated apple plantlet samples. This RT-ddPCR assay can be utilized for the accurate quantitative detection of ASGV infection in ASGV-free certification programs, and can thus contribute to the production of ASGV-free apple trees.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.34 no.2
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• pp.63-71
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• 2024

Slipchip offers advantages such as high-throughout, low cost, and simple operation, and therefore, it is one of the technologies with the greatest potential for high-throughput, single-cell, and single-molecule analyses. Slipchip devices have achieved remarkable advances over the past decades, with its simplified molecular diagnostics gaining particular attention, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic and in various infectious diseases scenarios. Medical testing based on nucleic acid amplification in the Slipchip has become a promising alternative simple and rapid diagnostic tool in field situations. Herein, we present a comprehensive review of Slipchip device advances in molecular diagnostics, highlighting its use in digital recombinase polymerase amplification (RPA), loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP), and polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Slipchip technology allows users to conduct reliable droplet transfers with high-throughput potential for single-cell and molecule analyses. This review explores the device's versatility in miniaturized and rapid molecular diagnostics. A complete Slipchip device can be operated without special equipment or skilled handling, and provides high-throughput results in minimum settings. This review focuses on recent developments and Slipchip device challenges that need to be addressed for further advancements in microfluidics technology.

• Research in Plant Disease
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• v.27 no.3
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• pp.120-127
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• 2021

Plant viruses cause significant yield losses, continuously compromising crop production and thus representing a serious threat to global food security. Tomato spotted wilt virus (TSWV) is the most harmful plant virus that mainly infects horticultural crops and has a wide host range. Reverse-transcription quantitative real-time PCR (RT-qPCR) has been widely used for detecting TSWV with high sensitivity, but its application is limited owing to the lack of standardization. Therefore, in this study, a sensitive and accurate reverse transcription droplet digital polymerase chain reaction (RT-ddPCR) method was established for TSWV detection. Additionally, we compared the sensitivities of RT-qPCR and RT-ddPCR for TSWV detection. Specificity analysis of RT-ddPCR for TSWV showed no amplification for main pepper viruses and negative control. TSWV transcripts levels measured by RT-ddPCR and RT-qPCR showed a high degree of linearity; however, the former yielded results that were at least 10-fold more sensitive and detected lower TSWV copy numbers than the latter. Collectively, our findings show that RT-ddPCR provides improved analytical sensitivity and specificity for TSWV detection, making it suitable for identifying low TSWV concentrations in field samples.

• ALGAE
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• v.39 no.1
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• pp.51-56
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• 2024

The use of droplet digital polymerase chain reaction (ddPCR) has greatly improved the quantification of harmful protists, outperforming traditional methods like quantitative PCR. Notably, ddPCR provides enhanced consistency and reproducibility at it resists PCR inhibitors commonly found in environmental DNA samples. This study aimed to determine the most effective filter material for ddPCR protocols by assessing the reproducibility of species-specific gene copy numbers and filtration time across six filter types: cellulose acetate (CA), mixed cellulose ester (MCE), nylon (NY), polycarbonate (PC), polyethersulfone (PES), and polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF). The study used two species of Chattonella marina complexes as a case study. Filtration rates were slower for NY, PC, and PVDF filters. Moreover, MCE, NY, PES, and PVDF yielded lower DNA amounts than other filters. Importantly, the CA filter exhibited the lowest variance (38-39%) and the highest determination coefficients (R² = 0.92-0.96), indicating superior performance. These findings suggest that the CA filter is the most suitable for ddPCR quantification of marine protists, offering quick filtration and reliable reproducibility.

• Genomics & Informatics
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.24.1-24.7
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• 2023

Assays of clinical diagnosis and species identification using molecular markers are performed according to a quantitative method in consideration of sensitivity, cost, speed, convenience, and specificity. However, typical polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assay is difficult to quantify and have various limitations. In addition, to perform quantitative analysis with the quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR) equipment, a standard curve or normalization using reference genes is essential. Within the last a decade, previous studies have reported that the digital PCR (dPCR) assay, a third-generation PCR, can be applied in various fields by overcoming the shortcomings of typical PCR and qRT-PCR assays. We selected Stilla Naica System (Stilla Technologies), Droplet Digital PCR Technology (Bio-Rad), and Lab on an Array Digital Real-Time PCR analyzer system (OPTOLANE) for comparative analysis among the various droplet digital PCR platforms currently in use commercially. Our previous study discovered a molecular marker that can distinguish Hanwoo species (Korean native cattle) using Hanwoo-specific genomic structural variation. Here, we report the pros and cons of the operation of each dPCR platform from various perspectives using this species identification marker. In conclusion, we hope that this study will help researchers to select suitable dPCR platforms according to their purpose and resources.

• ALGAE
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• v.37 no.4
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• pp.281-291
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• 2022

Quantifying the abundance of Chattonella species is necessary to effectively manage the threats from ichthyotoxic raphidophytes, which can cause large-scale mortality of aquacultured fish in temperate waters. The identification and cell counting of Chattonella species have been conducted primarily on living cells without fixation by light microscopy because routine fixatives do not retain their morphological features. Species belonging to the Chattonella marina complex, including C. marina and C. marina var. ovata, had high genetic similarities and the lack of clear morphological delimitations between the species. To estimate the abundance of C. marina complex in marine plankton samples, we developed a protocol based on the droplet digital polymerase chain reaction (ddPCR) assay, with C. marina complex-specific primers targeting the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region of the rDNA. Cell abundance of the C. marina complex can be determined using the ITS copy number per cell, ranging from 25 ± 1 for C. marina to 112 ± 7 for C. marina var. ovata. There were no significant differences in ITS copies estimated by the ddPCR assay between environmental DNA samples from various localities spiked with the same number of cells of culture strains. This approach can be employed to improve the monitoring efficiency of various marine protists and to support the implementation of management for harmful algal blooms, which are difficult to analyze using microscopy alone.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.31 no.3
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• pp.358-367
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• 2021

The World Health Organization (WHO) has declared the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) as an international health emergency. Current diagnostic tests are based on the reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) method, which is the gold standard test that involves the amplification of viral RNA. However, the RT-qPCR assay has limitations in terms of sensitivity and quantification. In this study, we tested both qPCR and droplet digital PCR (ddPCR) to detect low amounts of viral RNA. The cycle threshold (CT) of the viral RNA by RT-PCR significantly varied according to the sequences of the primer and probe sets with in vitro transcript (IVT) RNA or viral RNA as templates, whereas the copy number of the viral RNA by ddPCR was effectively quantified with IVT RNA, cultured viral RNA, and RNA from clinical samples. Furthermore, the clinical samples were assayed via both methods, and the sensitivity of the ddPCR was determined to be equal to or more than that of the RT-qPCR. However, the ddPCR assay is more suitable for determining the copy number of reference materials. These findings suggest that the qPCR assay with the ddPCR defined reference materials could be used as a highly sensitive and compatible diagnostic method for viral RNA detection.