title: Development of chemiluminescent lateral flow assay for the detection of nucleic acids.
abstract: Rapid, sensitive detection methods are of utmost importance for the identification of pathogens related to health and safety. Herein we report the development of a nucleic acid sequence-based lateral flow assay which achieves a low limit of detection using chemiluminescence. On-membrane enzymatic signal amplification is used to reduce the limit of detection to the sub-femtomol level. To demonstrate this assay, we detected synthetic nucleic acid sequences representative of Trypanosoma mRNA, the causative agent for African sleeping sickness, with relevance in human and animal health in sub-Saharan Africa. The intensity of the chemiluminescent signal was evaluated by using a charge-coupled device as well as a microtiter plate reader. We demonstrated that our lateral flow chemiluminescent assay has a very low limit of detection and is easy to use. The limit of detection was determined to be 0.5 fmols of nucleic acid target.
authors.affiliation: Department of Food Science, University of Massachusetts, 102 Holdsworth Way, Amherst, MA 01003, USA. yuhongw@foodsci.umass.edu.
authors.forename: Yuhong
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Food Science, University of Massachusetts, 102 Holdsworth Way, Amherst, MA 01003, USA. cfill@foodsci.umass.edu.
authors.forename: Catherine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Fill
authors.affiliation: Department of Food Science, University of Massachusetts, 102 Holdsworth Way, Amherst, MA 01003, USA. snugen@foodsci.umass.edu.
authors.forename: Sam R
authors.initials: SR
authors.lastname: Nugen