Development of a novel, genome subtraction-derived, sars-cov-2-specific covid-19-nsp2 real-time rt-pcr assay and its evaluation using clinical specimens

Cyril Chik Yan Yip, Chi Chun Ho, Jasper Fuk Woo Chan, Kelvin Kai Wang To, Helen Shuk Ying Chan, Sally Cheuk Ying Wong, Kit Hang Leung, Agnes Yim Fong Fung, Anthony Chin Ki Ng, Zijiao Zou, Anthony Raymond Tam, Tom Wai Hin Chung, Kwok Hung Chan, Ivan Fan Ngai Hung, Vincent Chi Chung Cheng, Owen Tak Yin Tsang, Stephen Kwok Wing Tsui, Kwok Yung Yuen

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

76 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

The pandemic novel coronavirus infection, Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19), has affected at least 190 countries or territories, with 465,915 confirmed cases and 21,031 deaths. In a containment-based strategy, rapid, sensitive and specific testing is important in epidemiological control and clinical management. Using 96 SARS-CoV-2 and 104 non-SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus genomes and our in-house program, GolayMetaMiner, four specific regions longer than 50 nucleotides in the SARS-CoV-2 genome were identified. Primers were designed to target the longest and previously untargeted nsp2 region and optimized as a probe-free real-time reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) assay. The new COVID-19-nsp2 assay had a limit of detection (LOD) of 1.8 TCID50 /mL and did not amplify other human-pathogenic coronaviruses and respiratory viruses. Assay reproducibility in terms of cycle threshold (Cp) values was satisfactory, with the total imprecision (% CV) values well below 5%. Evaluation of the new assay using 59 clinical specimens from 14 confirmed cases showed 100% concordance with our previously developed COVID-19-RdRp/Hel reference assay. A rapid, sensitive, SARS-CoV-2-specific real-time RT-PCR assay, COVID-19-nsp2, was developed.

Original languageEnglish
Article number2574
JournalInternational Journal of Molecular Sciences
Volume21
Issue number7
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Apr 1 2020
Externally publishedYes

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.

ASJC Scopus Subject Areas

  • Catalysis
  • Molecular Biology
  • Spectroscopy
  • Computer Science Applications
  • Physical and Theoretical Chemistry
  • Organic Chemistry
  • Inorganic Chemistry

Keywords

  • Clinical evaluation
  • COVID-19
  • COVID-19-nsp2 assay
  • Genome subtraction
  • GolayMetaMiner
  • Nsp2
  • Real-time RT-PCR
  • SARS-CoV-2
  • Sensitivity
  • Specificity

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