A one-step low-cost molecular test for SARS-CoV-2 detection suitable for community testing using minimally processed saliva.

ABSTRACT: The gold standard for coronavirus disease 2019 diagnostic testing relies on RNA extraction from naso/oropharyngeal swab followed by amplification through reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) with fluorogenic probes. While the test is extremely sensitive and specific, its high cost and the potential discomfort associated with specimen collection made it suboptimal for public health screening purposes. In this study, we developed an equally reliable, but cheaper and less invasive alternative test based on a one-step RT-PCR with the DNA-intercalating dye SYBR Green, which enables the detection of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) directly from saliva samples or RNA isolated from nasopharyngeal (NP) swabs. Importantly, we found that this type of t

SUBMITTER: da Silva SM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11147803 | biostudies-literature | 2024

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature