Using Cy5-dUTP labelling of RPA-amplicons with downstream microarray analysis for the detection of antibiotic resistance genes

In this report we describe Cy5-dUTP labelling of recombinase-polymerase-amplification (RPA) products directly during the amplification process for the first time. Nucleic acid amplification techniques, especially polymerase-chain-reaction as well as various isothermal amplification methods such as RPA, becomes a promising tool in the detection of pathogens and target specific genes. Actually, RPA even provides more advantages. This isothermal method got popular in point of care diagnostics because of its speed and sensitivity but requires pre-labelled primer or probes for a following detection of the amplicons. To overcome this disadvantages, we performed an labelling of RPA-amplicons with Cy5-dUTP without the need of pre-labelled primers. The amplification results of various multiple antibiotic resistance genes indicating great potential as a flexible and promising tool with high specific and sensitive detection capabilities of the target genes. After the determination of an appropriate rate of 1% Cy5-dUTP and 99% unlabelled dTTP we were able to detect the bla(CTX-M15) gene in less than 1.6E−03 ng genomic DNA corresponding to approximately 200 cfu of Escherichia coli cells in only 40 min amplification time.