Nucleic acid testing of SARS-CoV-2: A review of current methods, challenges, and prospects

Yuanshou Zhu; Meng Zhang; Zhijun Jie; Shengce Tao

doi:10.3389/fmicb.2022.1074289

Nucleic acid testing of SARS-CoV-2: A review of current methods, challenges, and prospects

Front Microbiol. 2022 Dec 9:13:1074289. doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2022.1074289. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Yuanshou Zhu^{1

2}, Meng Zhang³, Zhijun Jie^{3

4}, Shengce Tao^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ Key Laboratory of Systems Biomedicine (Ministry of Education), Shanghai Center for Systems Biomedicine, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China.
² School of Biomedical Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China.
³ Department of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Shanghai Fifth People's Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai, China.
⁴ Center of Community-Based Health Research, Fudan University, Shanghai, China.

Abstract

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) and has brought a huge threat to public health and the global economy. Rapid identification and isolation of SARS-CoV-2-infected individuals are regarded as one of the most effective measures to control the pandemic. Because of its high sensitivity and specificity, nucleic acid testing has become the major method of SARS-CoV-2 detection. A deep understanding of different diagnosis methods for COVID-19 could help researchers make an optimal choice in detecting COVID-19 at different symptom stages. In this review, we summarize and evaluate the latest developments in current nucleic acid detection methods for SARS-CoV-2. In particular, we discuss biosensors and CRISPR-based diagnostic systems and their characteristics and challenges. Furthermore, the emerging COVID-19 variants and their impact on SARS-CoV-2 diagnosis are systematically introduced and discussed. Considering the disease dynamics, we also recommend optional diagnostic tests for different symptom stages. From sample preparation to results readout, we conclude by pointing out the pain points and future directions of COVID-19 detection.

Keywords: COVID-19 variants; CRISPR-based diagnostic; SARS-CoV-2; biosensors; nucleic acid testing.

Publication types

Review

Grants and funding

This work was partially supported by the National Key Research and Development Program of China (Grant No. 2020YFE0202200), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 31970130 and 82070024), Natural Science Foundation of Shanghai (No. 20ZR1443700), and Specialized Department Foundation of Minhang District (No. 2020MWTZB02).