Saltatory rolling circle amplification for sensitive visual detection of Staphylococcus aureus in milk

Monitoring Staphylococcus aureus with high sensitivity is very important for ensuring milk quality and food safety. In this study, we used a rapid nucleic acid isothermal amplification method, saltatory rolling circle amplification (SRCA), for the detection of Staph. aureus in milk. The results of the SRCA method can be assessed visually by the presence of white precipitate or by fluorescence measurement. Thirteen Staph. aureus strains and 31 non-Staph. aureus strains were used to evaluate the specificity of SRCA. The method exhibited excellent detection of Staph. aureus genomic DNA at a concentration of 7.8 × 10¹ fg/µL when assessed by visible precipitate, and at 7.8 × 10⁰ fg/µL when detected by fluorescence after addition of the fluorochrome SYBR Green I. In artificially inoculated milk, the detection limits of SRCA were 5.6 × 10² cfu/mL by precipitate and 5.6 × 10¹ cfu/mL by fluorescence, respectively. Compared with conventional PCR approaches, the SRCA assay achieved at least 100-fold higher sensitivity. Moreover, the sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy of the SRCA-based system were calculated to be 100.00, 97.73, and 97.78%, respectively. These results indicate that SRCA has potential application as a sensitive and visual technique for the detection of Staph. aureus in milk.