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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Microbiol.
Sec. Infectious Agents and Disease
Volume 15 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2024.1384991

Ammonium Sulfate Denatures Transport Medium Less Dependent on Guanidinium Isothiocyanate and Enables SARS-CoV-2 RNA and Antigen Detection Compatibility

Provisionally accepted
Ge Liu Ge Liu 1Jiapeng Xu Jiapeng Xu 1Yuanyuan Huang Yuanyuan Huang 1Wei Ye Wei Ye 1Jieyu Li Jieyu Li 1Ran Yan Ran Yan 2Qiting Luo Qiting Luo 1Xinrui Zhou Xinrui Zhou 1Yingna Cai Yingna Cai 1Hanfang Jiang Hanfang Jiang 3Xiujing Lu Xiujing Lu 4Kai Zheng Kai Zheng 2Zhendan He Zhendan He 1Qinchang Zhu Qinchang Zhu 1*
  • 1 Shenzhen Technology University, Shenzhen, Guangdong, China
  • 2 Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, Guangdong Province, China
  • 3 Shenzhen Children's Hospital, Shenzhen, Guangdong Province, China
  • 4 GBCBIO Technologies Inc., Guangzhou, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Rapid identification of infected individuals through viral RNA or antigen detection followed by effective personal isolation is usually the most effective way to prevent the spread of a newly emerging virus. Large-scale detection involves mass specimen collection and transportation. For biosafety reasons, denaturing viral transport medium has been extensively used during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. However, the high concentrations of guanidinium isothiocyanate (GITC) in such media have raised issues around sufficient GITC supply and laboratory safety. Moreover, there is a lack of denaturing transport media compatible with SARS-CoV-2 RNA and antigen detection. Here, we tested whether supplementing media containing low concentrations of GITC with ammonium sulfate (AS) would affect the throat-swab detection of SARS-CoV-2 or a viral inactivation assay targeting coronavirus and other enveloped and non-enveloped viruses. The effect of adding AS to the media on RNA stability and its compatibility with SARS-CoV-2 antigen detection were also tested. We found that adding AS to the denaturing transport media reduced the need for high levels of GITC, improved SARS-COV-2 RNA detection without compromising virus inactivation, and enabled the denaturing transport media compatible with SARS-CoV-2 antigen detection.

    Keywords: COVID-19, RNA detection, Antigen detection, denaturing transport media, Guanidinium isothiocyanate, Ammonium Sulfate

    Received: 11 Feb 2024; Accepted: 19 Apr 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Liu, Xu, Huang, Ye, Li, Yan, Luo, Zhou, Cai, Jiang, Lu, Zheng, He and Zhu. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Qinchang Zhu, Shenzhen Technology University, Shenzhen, 518118, Guangdong, China

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.