Non-amplification nucleic acid detection method

The detection of pathogenic bacteria and viruses have been conducted in specific laboratories using specimens obtained from patients or animals. There are two large issues. One issue is a transfer of specimens from the location of patients or animals to the laboratory, and the other one is critical drawbacks of PCR usually used as a detection method. The former may cause the spread of diseases, and thus an on-site detection method is required. The latter includes many problems of PCR, for example

1. non-specific or false positive amplifications
2. volume limit for a target sample
3. deactivation of enzymes used
4. complicated techniques
5. difficulty in designing probe sequences
6. expense

In the present study, we propose a new method for detection of bacteria and viruses, in which the performance is available on-site and the detection is not performed by PCR but by thio-NAD cycling. Our new method does not amplify the target nucleic acids but amplify the signals, and thus it is referred to as a “non-amplification nucleic acid detection method.