A multiplex RPA-CRISPR/Cas12a platform for rapid and accurate toxinotyping of Clostridium perfringens

Clostridium perfringens (C. perfringens) is a leading cause of foodborne disease worldwide, requiring rapid and accurate toxinotyping for effective outbreak control and surveillance. Herein, we developed C. perfringens-multiplex RPA-CRISPR/Cas12a, an integrated detection platform combing multiplex Recombinase Polymerase Amplification (RPA) with Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats-associated protein 12a (CRISPR/Cas12a)-mediated detection for comprehensive toxinotyping. The system simultaneously identifies six key toxin genes (cpa, cpb, etx, iap, cpe, netB) in two reaction tubes, enabling discrimination of all seven C. perfringens toxinotypes (A-G). The C. perfringens-multiplex RPA-CRISPR/Cas12a assay platform exhibited exceptional analytical performance, achieving a detection limit of ≤10 copies/μL for across all targets while maintaining absolute specificity against the human genomic DNA and 5 common foodborne pathogens. In validation testing with 12 naturally contaminated food samples, the C. perfringens-multiplex RPA-CRISPR/Cas12a assay platform demonstrated superior performance to commercial qPCR kits, accurately identifying eight Type A (cpa-gene-positive) and four Type F (cpa-gene and cpe-gene co-positive) strains. When coupled with a portable detection device, the platform completed the entire diagnostic workflow within 50 min while maintaining laboratory-level accuracy under field conditions. The rapid, cost-effective, and equipment-free system is particularly suited for decentralized toxin surveillance in resource-limited settings. By integrating high sensitivity, multiplex capability, and field applicability, this system significantly advances Point-of-care Testing (POCT) capabilities for food safety monitoring, supporting global food safety initiatives.