Pathogen Detection

Pathogens refer to microorganisms (including bacteria, viruses, rickettsia, fungi), parasites or other agents (recombinant microorganisms including hybrids or mutants) that can cause diseases in humans, animals and plants.

Pathogen Detection

Pathogen Classification

Algae
Algae are single-celled eukaryotes that are generally non-pathogenic although pathogenic varieties do exist. Protothecosis is a disease found in dogs, cats, cattle, and humans caused by a type of green alga known as prototheca that lacks chlorophyll.

Bacteria
Bacteria are a class of prokaryotic microorganisms. They are prokaryotes with slender shape and simple structure. They mostly reproduce by binary fission. They are the most widely distributed and most numerous organisms in nature, and are also the main participants in the material cycle of nature. Bacteria are mainly composed of cell membrane, cytoplasm, ribosome and other parts, and some bacteria also have special structures such as capsule, flagella, and fimbriae.

Bacteria

Most bacteria are harmless, but a small number of bacteria can cause infectious diseases, such as tuberculosis caused by mycobacterium tuberculosis, and pneumonia caused by streptococcus and pseudomonas.

Fungi
Fungi are a class of eukaryotic organisms. The most common fungi are various types of fungi, but fungi also include molds and yeasts.

Fungi

Some fungi have curative properties, and the common fungal infections are mostly candida albicans, cryptococcus neoformans, and actinomycetes.

Prions
Prion, also known as prion, protein infection factor, prion or infectious protein, is a small molecule non-immune hydrophobic protein that can infect animals and replicate in host cells.

Prions

Prions are not strictly speaking viruses; they are self-replicating and infectious factors that do not contain nucleic acid but consist only of proteins.

Viroids
Viroids are among the pathogens smaller than known viruses that replicate autonomously in host cells. They can infect higher plants through mechanical damage on the plant surface and show certain symptoms, and can also be transmitted vertically through pollen and seeds. More than 40 kinds of viroids have been discovered, and most of which are plant viroids.

Viruses
Viruses are acellular microorganisms that are small in size, simple in structure and contain only one nucleic acid (DNA or RNA).

Viruses

Pathogenic viruses are mainly from the families Adenoviridae, Coronaviridae, Picornaviridae, Herpesviridae, Hepadnaviridae, Flaviviridae, Retroviridae, Orthomyxoviridae.

Parasites
Human parasites refer to parasites that use humans as their hosts. Most are protozoa, linear animals, flat animals, annelids and arthropods.

Parasites

In parasitology, protozoa are traditionally called protozoa, and linear animals and flat animals are collectively called helminths. Parasites cause various diseases such as malaria, amebiasis, giardiasis, toxoplasmosis, cryptosporidiosis, trichomoniasis, etc.

Overview of Pathogen Detection

Infectious diseases are common and frequently-occurring diseases all over the world, and the condition and premise for effective prevention and treatment of infectious diseases is the accurate detection of pathogens.

Today, due to the continuous emergence of numerous pathogenic microorganisms, including protists, viruses, and bacteria, traditional methods of pathogen isolation and culture have been unable to meet the needs of disease prevention and control and clinical diagnosis and treatment. Modern molecular diagnostic techniques are important for pathogen detection. In particular, the combination of multiple molecular diagnostic techniques or with other techniques will contribute to the rapid and accurate detection of pathogens. For example, biosensing technology based on the CRISPR-Cas system has recently been increasingly used for pathogen detection due to its high specificity and high sensitivity.

Our Services

Utilizing the DeteCas^TM platform based on the CRISPR-Cas system, CD BioSciences can provide various services in pathogen detection, such as DNA detection service and RNA detection service. If you are interested in these services, please contact us.

References

Xu, W.J., et al. Research progress on pathogenic bacteria detection technology based on CRISPR/Cas biosensing principle. Chinese Journal of Biological Engineering. 2021, 8(41): 8.
Hatoum-Aslan, A. CRISPR methods for nucleic acid detection herald the future of molecular diagnostics. Clinical Chemistry. 2018, 12(64): 1681-1683.
Wang, B., et al. A CRISPR/Cas12a-Based Platform for Rapid and Visual Nucleic Acid Detection. Analytical Chemistry, 2019, 91(19): 12156-12161.

For research use only. Not intended for any clinical use.