Electrochemical Detection of Genomic DNA Utilizing Recombinase Polymerase Amplification and Stem-Loop Probe

Abstract

Nucleic acid tests integrated into digital point-of-care (POC) diagnostic systems have great potential for the future of health care. However, current methods of DNA amplification and detection require bulky and expensive equipment, many steps, and long process times, which complicate their integration into POC devices. We have combined an isothermal DNA amplification method, recombinase polymerase amplification, with an electrochemical stem-loop (S-L) probe DNA detection technique. By combining these methods, we have created a system that is able to specifically amplify and detect as few as 10 copies/μL <i>Staphylococcus epidermidis</i> DNA with a total time to result of 70-75 min.