Gaolian Xu

Abstract Accurate detection of gene subtypes with high sequence similarity is critical for pathogen diagnosis. Current CRISPR-based PCR diagnostics methods may provide improved specificity but rely on pre-amplification in a separate reaction, due to Cas protein thermal instability, increasing cross contamination.

1 Introduction Tuberculosis (TB) is a leading cause of death globally, highlighting the urgent need for a more complete understanding of the pathogenic mechanism of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB) and the nature of its interactions with the human immune response.

Significance Populations living in remote rural communities would benefit from rapid, highly sensitive molecular, DNA-based diagnostics to inform the correct and timely treatment of infectious diseases. Such information is also becoming increasingly relevant in global efforts for disease elimination, where the testing of asymptomatic patients is now seen as being important for the identification of disease reservoirs.