High sensitive RNA detection by one-step RT-PCR using the genetically engineered variant of DNA polymerase with reverse transcriptase activity from hyperthermophilies.

One-step RT-PCR has not been widely used even though some thermostable DNA polymerases with reverse transcriptase (RT) activity were developed from bacterial and archaeal polymerases, which is owing to low cDNA synthesis activity from RNA. In the present study, we developed highly-sensitive one-step RT-PCR using the single variant of family A DNA polymerase with RT activity, K4pol (L329A), from the hyperthermophilic bacterium Thermotoga petrophila K4 or the 16-tuple variant of family B DNA polymerase with RT activity, RTX, from the hyperthermophilic archaeon Thermococcus kodakarensis. Optimization of reaction condition revealed that the activities for cDNA synthesis and PCR of K4pol and RTX were highly affected by the concentrations of MgCl and Mn(OCOCH) as well as those of K4pol or RTX. Under the optimized condition, 300 copies/μl of target RNA in 10 μl reaction volumes were successfully detected by the one-step RT-PCR with K4pol or RTX, which was almost equally sensitive enough compared with the current RT-PCR condition using retroviral RT and thermostable DNA polymerase. Considering that K4pol and RTX are stable even at 90-100°C, our results suggest that the one-step RT-PCR with K4pol or RTX is more advantageous than the current one.