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REVIEW article

Front. Cell. Infect. Microbiol.

Sec. Clinical Microbiology

Volume 15 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fcimb.2025.1640938

Research progress on the application of RPA-CRISPR/Cas12a in the rapid visual detection of pathogenic microorganisms

Provisionally accepted
Tuo  JiTuo Ji1Xin  FangXin Fang2Yuzhi  GaoYuzhi Gao1Kun  YuKun Yu1Xuzhu  GaoXuzhu Gao1*
  • 1Second People's Hospital of Lianyungang, Lianyungang, China
  • 2Yangzhou University, Yangzhou, China

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

In an increasingly complex global public health landscape, the continuous emergence of novel pathogens and the growing problem of antibiotic resistance highlight the urgent need for rapid, efficient, and precise detection technologies for pathogenic microorganisms. The innovative combination of Recombinase Polymerase Amplification (RPA) and CRISPR/Cas12a enables the rapid amplification of target gene fragments under isothermal conditions and the precise recognition and cleavage of specific nucleic acid sequences. The integration of RPA and CRISPR/Cas12a significantly enhances the sensitivity and accuracy of detection simplifies operational procedures, and reduces the dependence on specialized equipment for testing personnel. This combination demonstrates great potential for application in clinical diagnostics and point-of-care testing. This article provides a detailed overview of the principles of RPA-CRISPR/Cas12a and its latest research progress in the field of pathogen detection, aiming to promote the widespread application of RPA-CRISPR/Cas12a technology in clinical medicine and public health and to offer theoretical support for its further optimization.

Keywords: RPA, CRISPR/Cas12a, Pathogenic microorganisms, Point-of-care testing, visualization

Received: 04 Jun 2025; Accepted: 15 Jul 2025.

Copyright: © 2025 Ji, Fang, Gao, Yu and Gao. 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: Xuzhu Gao, Second People's Hospital of Lianyungang, Lianyungang, China

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