Citation: Euler M, Wang Y, Otto P, Tomaso H, Escudero R, Anda P, Hufert FT & Weidmann M (2012) Recombinase Polymerase Amplification Assay for Rapid Detection of Francisella tularensis, Journal of Clinical Microbiology, 50 (7), pp. 2234-2238.
Abstract: Several real-time PCR approaches to develop field detection for Francisella tularensis, the infectious agent causing tularemia, have been explored. We report the development of a novel qualitative real-time isothermal recombinase polymerase amplification (RPA) assay for use on a small ESEQuant Tube Scanner device. The analytical sensitivity and specificity were tested using a plasmid standard and DNA extracts from infected rabbit tissues. The assay showed a performance comparable to real-time PCR but reduced the assay time to 10 min. The rapid RPA method has great application potential for field use or point-of-care diagnostics.