Abstract

To prevent food fraud, products can be monitored by various chemical-analytical techniques. In this study, we present a CRISPR-Cpf1 DETECTR-based assay for the differentiation of plant ingredients in sweet confectionary like fine and bulk-cocoa, or bitter and sweet almonds. To enable rapid in-field analysis, the trans-cleavage activity of the Cpf1 enzyme was used to develop a DETECTR (DNA endonuclease-targeted CRISPR trans reporter) assay for simple, highly specific fluorometric detection of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). The endonuclease Cpf1 requires the protospacer adjacent motif (PAM) 5’-TTTV-3’ for activation, but the recognition sequence is freely programmable. The SNPs were selected to alter the Cpf1 specific PAM sequence. As a result, sequences that do not carry the canonical PAM sequence are not detected and thus not cut. The optimized system was used for both raw material and processed products such as cocoa masses or marzipan with a limit of detection of 3 ng template DNA. In addition, we were able to implement the system in the context of an LFA (lateral flow assay) to serve as a basis for the development of rapid test systems.

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