Loop-Mediated Isothermal Amplification for the Fast Detection of Bonamia ostreae and Bonamia exitiosa in Flat Oysters

The haplosporidian parasites Bonamia ostreae (BO) and B. exitiosa (BE) are serious oyster pathogens. Two independent laboratories evaluated fluorescence real-time loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) assays for rapidly detecting these parasites. Specific LAMP assays were designed on the BO actin-1 and BE actin genes. A further generic assay was conceived on a conserved region of the 18S gene to detect both Bonamia species. The optimal reaction temperature varied from 65 to 67 degrees C depending on the test and instrument. Melting temperatures were 89.8-90.2 degrees C, 87.0-87.6 degrees C, and 86.2-86.6 degrees C for each of the BO, BE, and generic assays. The analytical sensitivity of these assays was 50 copies/mu L in a 30 min run. The BO and BE test sensitivity was similar to 1 log lower than a real-time PCR, while the generic test sensitivity was similar to the real-time PCR. Both the BO and BE assays were shown to be specific; however, the generic assay potentially cross-reacts with Haplosporidium costale. The performance of the LAMP assays evaluated on samples of known status detected positives within 7-20 min with a test accuracy of 100% for the BO and generic tests and a 95.8% accuracy for BE. The ease of use, rapidity and affordability of these tests allow for field deployment.