Chimeric crRNA improves CRISPR–Cas12a specificity in the N501Y mutation detection of Alpha, Beta, Gamma, and Mu variants of SARS-CoV-2
Jun Yang, Nilakshi Barua, Md. Nannur Rahman, Norman Lo, Tsz Fung Tsang, Xiao Yang, Paul K.S. Chan, Li Zhang, Margaret Ip
Abstract
Many CRISPR/Cas platforms have been established for the detection of SARS-CoV-2. But the detection platform of the variants of SARS-CoV-2 is scarce because its specificity is very challenging to achieve for those with only one or a few nucleotide(s) differences. Here, we report for the first time that chimeric crRNA could be critical in enhancing the specificity of CRISPR-Cas12a detecting of N501Y, which is shared by Alpha, Beta, Gamma, and Mu variants of SARS-CoV-2 without compromising its sensitivity. This strategy could also be applied to detect other SARS-CoV-2 variants that differ only one or a few nucleotide(s) differences.