Development of a recombinase polymerase amplification (RPA) fluorescence assay for the detection of enterocytozoon hepatopenaei (EHP)

• Main Authors: Gen Li, Feng Cong, Weiyou Cai, Jinhui Li, Miaoli Wu, Li Xiao, Xiaoliang Hu, Weiwei Zeng, Dongsheng He
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier 2021-03-01
• Series: Aquaculture Reports
• Subjects: Recombinase polymerase amplification; Enterocytozoon hepatopenaei; Detection
• Online Access: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352513420306773
• ISSN: 2352-5134

The emerging microsporidian parasite Enterocytozoon hepatopenaei (EHP) causes retardation of shrimp growth, leading to significant financial losses in shrimp aquaculture. Therefore, the development of an efficient and sensitive detection method will be conducive to the prevention and control of the shrimp parasite. In this study, we developed and evaluated a rapid real-time recombinase polymerase amplification (RPA) method that can detect EHP within 15 min at a constant temperature of 38.5 °C. The detection limit of this EHP RPA was 10 copies/μL of DNA molecules per reaction. The specificity of EHP RPA was tested, and the assay did not cross-react with white spot syndrome virus (WSSV), shrimp hemocyte iridescent virus (SHIV), infectious hypodermal and hematopoietic necrosis virus (IHHNV), or Vibrio parahaemolyticus. Field and clinical applicability of this assay was evaluated using 61 field samples. The coincidence rate of the detection results for the clinical samples between RPA and qPCR was 95.1 %. In summary, the real-time RPA analysis provides an efficient and sensitive detection method for EHP.