CRISPR-Cas12a-based detection and differentiation of Mycobacterium spp.

Mycobacterium species cause several vital human diseases, including tuberculosis and non-tuberculous mycobacterial infections, which are treated with different drug regimens Therefore, accurate and rapid diagnosis is essential for effective treatment and controlling the spread of these pathogens. This study aims to develop an isothermal method combining RPA and CRISPR-Cas12a techniques, named as MyTRACK, to detect and differentiate major clinical mycobacteria at the species level. The assay has no cross-reactivity with limit of detection of 1 to 100 copies/reaction for various targeted mycobacteria. The results demonstrated 100 % specificity and 92.59 % to 100 % sensitivity in clinical isolates and were consistent with the culture technique with LPA for clinical samples. The MyTRACK assay is an effective, portable, rapid, and accurate screening method for mycobacterial detection and identification, especially in low-resource clinical settings.