Yersinia pestis detection using biotinylated dNTPs for signal enhancement in lateral flow assays.

Due to the extreme infectivity of Yersinia pestis it poses a serious threat as a potential biowarfare agent, which can be rapidly and facilely disseminated. A cost-effective and specific method for its rapid detection at extremely low levels is required, in order to facilitate a timely intervention for containment. Here, we report an ultrasensitive method exploiting a combination of isothermal nucleic acid amplification with a tailed forward primer and biotinylated dNTPs, which is performed in less than 30 min.