Development and evaluation of a novel polymerase spiral reaction based testing technique for same-day visual detection of Campylobacter coli in pork

The developed polymerase spiral reaction-based technique specifically amplified the ceuE gene of C. coli and involved a three-step centrifugation method for DNA extraction. PSR, real-time and end-point PCR were able to detect 62 fg, 620 fg and 6.2 pg C. coli DNA/tube, respectively. PSR detection limits for artificially contaminated pork samples without enrichment, with 12 h enrichment and after 24 h enrichment were 1000 CFU/g, 100 CFU/g, and 10 CFU/g samples, respectively which were ten times better than real-time PCR. The detection performance of PSR (with 12 h enrichment) was also compared to culture (ISO10272-1:2017) method using 75 naturally-contaminated samples, which revealed the sensitivity, specificity, PPV, NPV and accuracy of 100% (95%CI, 73.2%–100%), 98.4% (95%CI, 90%–99.9%), 93.3% (95%CI, 66%–99.6%), 100% (95%CI, 92.5%–100%) and 98.7% (95%CI, 92.8%–99.9%), respectively. The advantage and novelty of this assay are its equipment-free nature, dye-based interpretation by the naked eye, and the requirement of one enzyme and one primer pair. This assay could be a better alternative to other molecular methods and may help in reducing the possible troubles (e.g., gastroenteritis, hospitalization, or death) of belated detection of C. coli in food products. This is the primary report applying the PSR for C. coli detection. [Display omitted] •PSR assay was developed to detect Campylobacter coli for the first time.•The assay involved simple 3-step centrifugation based DNA extraction method.•The assay involved pre-addition of HNB dye for result interpretation.•Analytical sensitivity and detection limit was 62 fg DNA/tube and 100 CFU/g pork.•The assay is equipment-free and requires single enzyme and a primer pair.