Nucleic acid amplification-based strategy to detect foodborne pathogens in milk: a review

Abstract

Milk contaminated with trace amounts of foodborne pathogens can considerably threaten food safety and public health. Therefore, rapid and accurate detection techniques for foodborne pathogens in milk are essential. Nucleic acid amplification (NAA)-based strategies are widely used to detect foodborne pathogens in milk. This review article covers the mechanisms of the NAA-based detection of foodborne pathogens in milk, including polymerase chain reaction (PCR), loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP), recombinase polymerase amplification (RPA), rolling circle amplification (RCA), and enzyme-free amplification, among others. Key factors affecting detection efficiency and the advantages and disadvantages of the above techniques are analyzed. Potential on-site detection tools based on NAA are outlined. We found that NAA-based strategies were effective in detecting foodborne pathogens in milk. Among them, PCR was the most reliable. LAMP showed high specificity, whereas RPA and RCA were most suitable for on-site and in-situ detection, respectively, and enzyme-free amplification was more economical. However, factors such as sample separation, nucleic acid target conversion, and signal transduction affected efficiency of NAA-based strategies. The lack of simple and effective sample separation methods to reduce the effect of milk matrices on detection efficiency was noteworthy. Further research should focus on simplifying, integrating, and miniaturizing microfluidic on-site detection platforms.

GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT

Keywords:

• Detection
• foodborne pathogens
• milk
• nucleic acid amplification

Author contributions

Lidong Pang was responsible for literature retrieval and preparing the review manuscript draft. Xiaowen Pi provided help on the manuscript structure and also revised the manuscript. Xinyan Yang, Danliangmin Song, Xue Qin, Lihan Wang and Chaoxin Man offered critical opinions in revising the manuscript. Yujun Jiang and Yu Zhang provided planning, conception. All the authors contributed to the revision of the manuscript and approved the submitted manuscript.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Joint Funds of the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. U21A20272).