CRISPR is a useful biological tool for detecting nucleic acid of SARS-CoV-2 in human clinical samples

Md Rashidur Rahman; Md Amjad Hossain; Md Mozibullah; Fateh Al Mujib; Afrina Afrose; Md Shahed-Al-Mahmud; Md Aminul Islam Apu

doi:10.1016/j.biopha.2021.111772

CRISPR is a useful biological tool for detecting nucleic acid of SARS-CoV-2 in human clinical samples

Biomed Pharmacother. 2021 Aug:140:111772. doi: 10.1016/j.biopha.2021.111772. Epub 2021 May 27.

Authors

Md Rashidur Rahman¹, Md Amjad Hossain², Md Mozibullah², Fateh Al Mujib³, Afrina Afrose⁴, Md Shahed-Al-Mahmud⁵, Md Aminul Islam Apu⁶

Affiliations

¹ Department of Chemical Engineering, Kyushu University, Japan; Department of Pharmacy, Jashore University of Science and Technology, Bangladesh. Electronic address: mr.rahman@just.edu.bd.
² Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Mawlana Bhashani Science and Technology University, Bangladesh.
³ Department of Pharmacy, Mawlana Bhashani Science and Technology University, Bangladesh.
⁴ Department of Pharmacy, BRAC University, Bangladesh.
⁵ Department of Microbiology and Immunology, School of Medicine, Tzu Chi University, Hualien, Taiwan; Genomics Research Center, Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan.
⁶ Graduate School of International Agricultural Technology, Seoul National University, South Korea.

Abstract

The recent pandemic of novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has spread globally and infected millions of people. The quick and specific detection of the nucleic acid of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) remains a challenge within healthcare providers. Currently, quantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) is the widely used method to detect the SARS-CoV-2 from the human clinical samples. RT-qPCR is expensive equipment and needs skilled personnel as well as lengthy detection time. RT-qPCR limitation needed an alternative healthcare technique to overcome with a fast and cheaper detection method. By applying the principles of CRISPR technology, several promising detection methods giving hope to the healthcare community. CRISPR-based detection methods include SHERLOCK-Covid, STOP-Covid, AIOD-CRISPR, and DETECTR platform. These methods have comparative advantages and drawbacks. Among these methods, AIOD-CRISPR and DETECTR are reasonably better diagnostic methods than the others if we compare the time taken for the test, the cost associated with each test, and their capability of detecting SARS-CoV-2 in the clinical samples. It may expect that the promising CRISPR-based methods would facilitate point-of-care (POC) applications in the CRISPR-built next-generation novel coronavirus diagnostics.

Keywords: COVID-19; CRISPR; Diagnostics; Nucleic acid; SARS-CoV-2.

Publication types

Review

MeSH terms

COVID-19 / virology*
COVID-19 Testing / methods
CRISPR-Cas Systems / genetics*
Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats / genetics*
Humans
Pandemics / prevention & control
SARS-CoV-2 / genetics*