Rapid Detection of Staphylococcus aureus in Food Using a Recombinase Polymerase Amplification-Based Assay

Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) is of great importance and is a leading cause of food poisoning, which is a public health concern in terms of the frequency and seriousness of the disease. In the present study, RPA and real-time RPA assays were developed and validated to detect S. aureus with high sensitivity and specificity by targeting the nuc gene for the first time. The analytical sensitivity of real-time RPA was 102 copies/reaction, which was higher than the sensitivity of the real-time PCR method. The analysis time was reduced to 10 min, but this method was as reliable as real-time PCR. Furthermore, the potential use of RPA to detect S. aureus was validated with five different artificially contaminated foods. In conclusion, the RPA and real-time RPA assays developed here, similar to real-time PCR, are rapid and simple and exhibit with high sensitivity and specificity. These assays serve as efficient tools for the detection of S. aureus in less advanced laboratories and are suitable for point-of-care detection.