A rapid visualization method for detecting rotavirus A by combining nuclear acid sequence-based amplification with the CRISPR-Cas12a assay.

Rotavirus A is the most common pathogen causing diarrhoea in children less than 5 years, leading to severe complications such as dehydration, electrolyte imbalances, acidosis, myocarditis, convulsions, pneumonia, and other life-threatening conditions. There is an urgent need for a rapid and efficient nucleic acid detection strategy to enable early diagnosis and treatment, preventing rotavirus transmission and associated complications. This article aimed to develop a nuclear acid sequence-based amplification (NASBA)-Cas12a system for detecting rotavirus A using fluorescence intensity or lateral flow strips. The NASBA technology was combined with the clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats-Cas12a system to establish a NASBA-Cas12a system for detecting rotavirus A. The NASBA-Cas12a system could detect rotavirus A at 37 ℃ within 70 min and had no cross-reactivity with other viruses, achieving a limit of detection of 1.2 copies μl. This system demonstrated a sensitivity of 100%, specificity of 90%, positive predictive value of 97.22% and negative predictive value of 100%. The kappa value was 0.933, indicating that the NASBA-Cas12a system was highly consistent with reverse transcription-PCR. The NASBA-Cas12a system exhibited high sensitivity and specificity for detecting rotavirus A, showing great potential for clinical application.