Rapid and sensitive detection of Salmonella species targeting the hilA gene using a loop-mediated isothermal amplification assay

• Published in: Genomics & informatics Vol. 19; no. 3; pp. 30.1 - 30.8
• Main Authors: Chu, Jiyon, Shin, Juyoun, Kang, Shinseok, Shin, Sun, Chung, Yeun-Jun
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: Korean
• Published: 2021
• Subjects: Salmonella; point-of-care testin; hilA gene; loop-mediated isothermal amplification
• ISSN: 1598-866X; 2234-0742

Salmonella species are among the major pathogens that cause foodborne illness outbreaks. In this study, we aimed to develop a loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) assay for the rapid and sensitive detection of Salmonella species. We designed LAMP primers targeting the hilA gene as a universal marker of Salmonella species. A total of seven Salmonella species strains and 11 non-Salmonella pathogen strains from eight different genera were used in this study. All Salmonella strains showed positive amplification signals with the Salmonella LAMP assay; however, there was no non-specific amplification signal for the non-Salmonella strains. The detection limit was 100 femtograms (20 copies per reaction), which was ~1,000 times more sensitive than the detection limits of the conventional polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assay (100 pg). The reaction time for a positive amplification signal was less than 20 minutes, which was less than one-third the time taken while using conventional PCR. In conclusion, our Salmonella LAMP assay accurately detected Salmonella species with a higher degree of sensitivity and greater rapidity than the conventional PCR assay, and it may be suitable for point-of-care testing in the field.