Food security, ... and more

A single-drop DNA test developed by researchers at University of Queensland's (UQ) Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology (AIBN) and the School of Agriculture and Food Sciences could revolutionise the detection of diseases in humans, livestock and crops. The test gives a result in 90 minutes and detects viruses, bacteria, fungi or parasites in humans, crops and cattle and could be used by health workers or farmers in the field - saving lives, time and money.? The test uses a single drop of liquid that changes colour if the test is positive.In its current form, the test can be made sensitive enough to detect even the smallest trace amounts of DNA or RNA in almost any sample such as blood, saliva, or soil, and it can also scan for multiple pathogens (bacteria, viruses and other micro-organisms that cause disease) or cancer markers. The test has already proved accurate in detecting human diseases such as HIV, malaria, tuberculosis the H1N1 influenza virus, as well as E. coli in water, bovine herpes virus in cattle, and fusarium fungus in crops.The new test is especially suited for developing countries, but it will also be very useful for the Australian agricultural and livestock industries as it provides a fast method to detect diseases without the need to send samples to the laboratory. The technology will soon be trialled in Cambodia to test for food pathogens, in a project led by Professor Botella with support from the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR). Other key researchers involved in the project are inventor Dr Eugene Wee and PhD student Han-Yih Lau.The research is published in the journal ChemComm and can be accessed via http://dx.doi.org/10.1039/C4CC10068A.Direct sourceINTERNATIONAL NEWSLETTER ON PLANT PATHOLOGY, ISPP, Newsletter 45 (5) May 2015Original source and source of the pictureRe-purposing bridging flocculation for on-site, rapid, qualitative DNA detection in resource-poor settingsE. J. H. Wee,a?? H. Y. Lau,ab?? J. R. Botella*b and?? M. Trau*ac? ?Chem. Commun., 2015,51, 5828-5831Developing molecular diagnostics in resource-poor settings is challenging. As such, we purpose-built a novel bridging flocculation assay for qualitative evaluation of isothermally amplified DNA by naked eye. The flocculation assay was dependent on pH, DNA polymer amounts and lengths. The method was first applied to the rapid and sensitive detection of important plant pathogens and subsequently extended to other pathogens across the animal kingdom to demonstrate the wide applications of our approach.Abstract