Development of a multiplex one-tube loop-mediated isothermal amplification method for rapidly simultaneous detection of the mecA and nuc genes in methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus

This study developed a multiplex one-tube loop-mediated isothermal amplification method using fluorescent dye-labeled DNA probes (mfLAMP) for the rapid simultaneous detection of the nuc (S. aureus-specific marker) and mecA genes (PBP2a-specific marker) in methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). In the mfLAMP method, a graphene oxide (GO) was used as an effective adsorbent to eliminate free fluorescent dye-labeled DNA probes (mecAf-probe: Cy5-ssDNA-Biotin and nucf-probe: FAM-ssDNA-Biotin) present in negative results. The samples were then measured using a developed program that enable simultaneous detection of fluorescein (FAM) and Cyanine5 (Cy5). Green fluorescence represents the detection of the nuc gene, red fluorescence indicates the detection of the mecA gene, and yellow fluorescence signifies the detection of MRSA. The mfLAMP was specific to MRSA and could detect 10°CFU/mL of MRSA in standard buffer and artificially inoculated irrigation water. The recovery rate from contaminated irrigation water ranged from 100.41 to 109.85 %. This study is the first to report the mfLAMP using GO, which could be point-of-care testing for the rapid and simultaneous detection of MRSA's nuc and mecA genes. The results demonstrate that the mfLAMP will be a novel tool for simultaneously detecting more than two target genes or bacteria within 1 h without an enrichment step.