Proximity Ligation Assay and Its Application in Pathogen Detection

Proximity ligation assay(PLA) is a recently developed strategy for protein analysis in which a pair of proximity probes are designed to bind target proteins via a DNA ligation reaction of oligonucleotides resulting in the formation of an amplifiable DNA strand suitable for real-time PCR.Because of the extremely sensitive and specific detection of proteins,PLA has been wildly used in biomarkers identification,protein functional study,and primary application on the diagnosis of diseases.Here we discussed the basic principle and the potential applications of PLA in pathogen detection.