Loop mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) of DNA: An advanced gene amplification technique

Abstract

The amplification of DNA provides method for gene based specific detection. Besides Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR), amplification can be achieved by several isothermal techniques. The PCR suffers from various drawbacks like requirement of laboratory and expertise to perform. Loop Mediated Isothermal Amplification (LAMP) of DNA is one of the promising isothermal techniques rapidly gaining popularity among researchers. The technique requires Bst DNA polymerase and a set of four primers recognizing 6-8 regions of target DNA. LAMP technique of DNA gained surprising popularity for amplifying a desired gene at constant temperature between 60-65 °C & maintain a constant temperature can be easily fulfilled by a water bath or a heat block. The LAMP amplification of the desired DNA fragment can be achieved as high as 109 copies in merely 30 min with higher specificity as compared with the existing PCR technique. The technique of LAMP averts the use of costly thermal cycler instrument, facilitating establishment of a field-friendly technique and is promising technique for gene detection in a resource-limited laboratory.