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Updated: Sep 11, 2025
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Author Spotlight: Development of Simplified CRISPR-Based Tests for Rapid Detection of Infectious Diseases
Published on: August 16, 2024
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CRISPR-based SNP detection technologies advance from classical methods to cutting-edge innovations.
Songkuan Zhuang1,2, Botao Bai1,2, Yizhen Liu1,2
1Research Center for Nanosensor Molecular Diagnostic & Treatment Technology, College of Chemistry and Environmental Engineering, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen 518060, Guangdong, P. R. China. yzliu@szu.edu.cn.
Chemical Communications (Cambridge, England)
|August 14, 2025
Summary
CRISPR-based technologies offer precise, rapid, and deployable single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) detection. This review details advancements in CRISPR SNP detection platforms like SHERLOCK and HOLMES, enhancing specificity and sensitivity for precision medicine.
Area of Science:
- Molecular Biology
- Genetics
- Biotechnology
Background:
- Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) are key genetic variations impacting disease, drug response, and pathogen evolution.
- Conventional SNP detection methods struggle with precision, speed, and deployability for clinical diagnostics and surveillance.
- CRISPR/Cas systems, with their trans-cleavage activity, offer single-nucleotide specificity, isothermal operation, and signal amplification.
Purpose of the Study:
- To systematically review foundational CRISPR-based SNP detection platforms (e.g., SHERLOCK, HOLMES, Cas14-DETECTR).
- To analyze technical advancements in specificity, protospacer adjacent motif (PAM) independence, and sensitivity.
- To evaluate challenges and propose future research directions for CRISPR SNP genotyping in precision medicine and global health.
Main Methods:
- Systematic examination of established CRISPR-based SNP detection platforms.
- Analysis of novel strategies for enhanced single-nucleotide discrimination.
- Review of breakthroughs in overcoming PAM constraints and optimizing detection sensitivity.
Main Results:
- CRISPR platforms demonstrate significant improvements in SNP detection precision, speed, and isothermal operation.
- Advancements include strategies for ultra-high specificity, PAM-independent detection, and enhanced sensitivity.
- Pioneering systems like SHERLOCK, HOLMES, and Cas14-DETECTR have laid the groundwork for current innovations.
Conclusions:
- CRISPR/Cas systems represent a revolutionary approach to SNP detection, surpassing conventional methods in key performance metrics.
- Ongoing research focuses on overcoming limitations to enable widespread adoption in clinical diagnostics and pathogen surveillance.
- Future CRISPR technologies hold immense potential for advancing precision medicine and global health monitoring through high-precision SNP genotyping.
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