Rapid, specific detection and quantification of Yersinia pestis using a species-specific SNP in the ferric uptake regulator gene (furMAMA)

Yersinia pestis, the causative agent of plague, is responsible for about 700 human cases of bubonic and pneumonic plague each year. Yet the disease is far more prevalent within rodent reservoirs than in humans. One of the main means of outbreak prevention is extensive wildlife surveillance, where accurate and rapid detection is essential to prevent spillover into the human population from which, it may otherwise spread more rapidly and over larger distances. Moreover, detection and quantification of the agent aids in investigative studies to understand aspects of the pathogen such as transmission mechanics, pathology, contamination risk and more. Partially based on a previously developed assay by Gabitzsch et al. 2008 we designed a TaqMan(R) mismatch amplification mutation assay (TaqMAMA) where a primer leverages a species-specific SNP in the chromosomal single copy ferric uptake regulator gene of Yersinia pestis. The assay allows for specific, rapid detection and quantification of Yersinia pestis using only a single species-specific marker in a highly conserved virulence gene. This low-cost and simple modification of an existing assay eliminates the need for running multiple molecular markers for pathogen detection or performing time-consuming culturing and counting of colonies for quantification.