On July 7, a research group led by Professor Nori Imanishi of the Faculty of Medicine, Tokai University announced that he had succeeded in developing a rapid genome analysis system that can be applied to the diagnosis of bacterial infections.It can be analyzed with a portable sequencer and two laptop computers, and more than 20 bacterial species and strains registered in the genome sequence database can be identified within 2 hours, so it is expected to be useful in disaster sites and tropical areas. NS.
Bacterial infectious diseases such as pneumonia and food poisoning are major problems worldwide.There are many types of causative bacteria, and bacterial infections are diagnosed by bacterial culture methods.However, it takes 1 to 2 days for determination, and it is difficult to identify the bacterial species due to the presence of refractory bacteria and incompatibility of culture conditions.Therefore, in the past, patients were often given antibacterial drugs based on their experience.It is believed that this delays the administration of effective drugs and promotes the emergence of drug-resistant bacteria.
This time, the research group created a genome analysis system consisting of a portable DNA sequencer MinION and two laptop PCs.This was used to examine multiple recent mixed DNAs and verify their accuracy and time.As a result, it was found that the DNA sequence could be read and the main bacteria contained therein could be identified within 2 hours.When the pleural effusion sample of an empyema patient was actually analyzed by the same system, anaerobic bacteria, which are considered to be the cause, could be detected quickly.However, it was found that there is room for further improvement in the composition of bacteria because it takes a large amount of calculation time.
Further development of this system will lead to the selection of appropriate antibacterial agents and the suppression of the emergence of drug-resistant bacteria.
Paper information:[Scientific Reports] A portable system for rapid bacterial composition analysis using a nanopore-based sequencer and laptop computer
