Development and performance assessment of a luminex xMAP(®) direct hybridization assay for the detection and identification of indoor air fungal contamination

Considered as a public health problem, indoor fungal contamination is generally monitored using classical protocols based on culturing. However, this culture dependency could influence the representativeness of the fungal population detected in an analyzed sample as this includes the dead and uncultivable fraction. Moreover, culture-based protocols are often time-consuming. In this context, molecular tools are a powerful alternative, especially those allowing multiplexing. In this study a Luminex xMAP(®) assay was developed for the simultaneous detection of 10 fungal species which are most frequently in indoor air and that may cause health problems. This xMAP(®) assay was found to be sensitive, i.e. its limit of detection is ranging between 0.05 and 0.01 ng of gDNA. The assay was subsequently tested with environmental air samples which were also analyzed with a classical protocol. All the species identified with the classical method were also detected with the xMAP(®) assay, however in a shorter time frame. These results demonstrate that the Luminex xMAP(®) fungal assay developed in this study could contribute to the improvement of public health and specifically to the indoor fungal contamination treatment.