Rapid Identification of Pathogens in Severe Pneumonia by Species-specific Bacterial Detector (SSBD)

Abstract

Fast and accurate detection of pathogenic bacterial infection in patients with severe pneumonia is significant to its treatment. The traditional culture method currently used by most medical institutions relies on a time-consuming culture process (over two days) that is unable to meet clinical needs. Rapid, accurate, and convenient species-specific bacterial detector (SSBD) has been developed to provide timely information on pathogenic bacteria. The SSBD was designed based on the fact that Cas12a indiscriminately cleaves any DNA following the binding of the crRNA-Cas12a complex to the target DNA molecule. SSBD involves two processes, starting with PCR of the target DNA using primers specific for the pathogen, followed by detection of the existence of pathogen target DNA in the PCR product using the corresponding crRNA and Cas12a protein. Compared to the culture test, the SSBD can obtain accurate pathogenic information in only a few hours, dramatically shortening the detection time and allowing more patients to benefit from timely clinical treatment.