BioTechniques

Simultaneous multiple gene detection

Molecular biology-based techniques have been frequently used to detect and quantify genes of interest, including polymerase chain reaction (PCR), quantitative PCR (qPCR), digital PCR (dPCR), and loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP). They are sensitive and specific for detecting genes present at low concentrations and can provide results in less than a few hours. Therefore, these techniques are becoming popular for clinical diagnostics, wastewater surveillance, and other clinical and environmental applications. We often have multiple genes of interest. If we run single-target assays one by one, it becomes time-consuming and labor-intensive. That is where multiplexing becomes important and useful.

Recent technological advancements enable us to target multiple genes using qPCR and dPCR (i.e., multiplex qPCR and multiplex dPCR). Additionally, high-throughput qPCR platforms also allow us to run multiple single-plex qPCR tests simultaneously. While these methods of detecting multiple genes simultaneously present unique challenges, researchers have successfully addressed these issues for both clinical and environmental applications.

This article collection aims to seek original and review articles that address the unique challenges associated with the detection and quantification of multiple genes. The topics of interest include methods to improve detection accuracy, strategies to overcome fluorophore spillover, and issues related to the formation of primer dimer. We also welcome reports of new multiplex assays, such as qPCR, dPCR, and LAMP, for clinical and environmental applications, as well as comparisons of different multiplex gene detection platforms.

5 Keywords:

1. Multiplex PCR
2. Multiplex quantitative PCR
3. Multiplex digital PCR
4. High-throughput quantitative PCR
5. Loop-mediated isothermal amplification

Guest Advisors

Dr. Satoshi Ishii is an Associate Professor at the BioTechnology Institute at the University of Minnesota. Dr. Ishii’s research focuses on environmental microbiology and biotechnology, including water quality and public health microbiology. He has developed high-throughput qPCR platforms for the detections of pathogens, antibiotic resistance genes, nitrogen cycle-associated genes and other genes of interests for clinical and environmental applications. For further details about Dr. Ishii 's professional profile, kindly refer to the links: https://ishii-lab.umn.edu/, https://orcid.org/my-orcid?orcid=0000-0003-3600-9165

Dr. Eiji Haramoto is a Professor at the Interdisciplinary Center for River Basin Environment, University of Yamanashi. His research interests include a wide variety of topics in the field of health-related water microbiology, such as development of concentration/detection methods for waterborne pathogens (viruses, protozoa, and bacteria), spatial and temporal prevalence of waterborne pathogens and their indicators in aquatic environments, reduction of waterborne pathogens during water/wastewater treatment processes, microbial source tracking (MST) using host-specific microbial genetic markers to identify fecal contamination sources of water, and wastewater-based epidemiology (WBE) to estimate the incidence of infectious diseases in communities. For further details about Dr. Haramoto's professional profile, kindly refer to the links: https://www.ccn.yamanashi.ac.jp/~eharamoto/, https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0126-0651

Disclosure Statement: Guest Advisors have no conflicts of interest to disclose.

Please review the journal scope and author submission instructions prior to submitting a manuscript.

Please contact Changluan Zhou at changluan.zhou@taylorandfrancis.com with any queries and discount codes regarding this Article Collection.