Recently Legionella pneumophila is the main causative waterborne organism of severe respiratory infections. Additionally, other Legionella species are documented as human pathogens. In our work, we describe a rapid detection method which combines two advantages for sensitive and specific detection of the genus Legionella: the fast isothermal amplification method "Loop-mediated isothermal AMPlification" (LAMP), and a colorimetric detection method using the metal indicator hydroxynaphtol blue (HBN) which allows to determine an optical signal with a simple readout (with the naked eye). Moreover, we present two approaches for minimizing the assay volume using a stationary microchip LAMP and droplet digital-based LAMP (ddLAMP) as promising highly sensitive setups.
Keywords: Droplet digital–based amplification; Loop-mediated isothermal amplification; Naked eye.