Loop-mediated isothermal
amplification (LAMP) is a low-technology
molecular assay that is highly adaptable to point-of-care (POC) applications.
However, achieving sensitive naked-eye detection of the amplified
target in a crude sample is challenging. Herein, we report a simple
yet highly efficient and sensitive methodology for the colorimetric
visualization of a single target copy in saliva using chitosan-capped
gold nanoparticles (Chit-AuNPs) synthesized via a green chemistry
approach. The presence or absence of free Chit in the Chit-AuNPs solution
was shown to affect LAMP colorimetric detection oppositely: the observed
stabilization in the negative samples and aggregation in the positive
samples in the presence of free Chit were reversed in the case of
neat Chit-AuNPs. The mechanism of the two assays was investigated
and attributed to electrostatic and depletion effects exerted between
the Chit-AuNPs, free Chit, and the solution components. The developed
contamination-free, one-tube assay successfully amplified and detected
down to 1–5 cfu of
Salmonella
and 10 copies of SARS-CoV-2 per reaction (25 μL) used, respectively,
as model DNA and RNA targets in the presence of 20% saliva, making
the method suitable for POC applications. Compared to the commonly
used pH-sensitive dyes, Chit-AuNPs are shown to have an enhanced sensitivity
toward naked-eye colorimetric observation owing to the direct detection
of DNA amplicons. Thus, this is a simple, highly sensitive, fast,
and versatile naked-eye detection methodology that could be coupled
to any LAMP or RT-LAMP assay, avoiding the need of using complicated
sample pretreatments and/or AuNPs long and laborious functionalization
processes.