MB-CasFire™: A Plug-and-Play, Thermostable CRISPR Enzyme for Precise Nucleic Acid Detection

MB-CasFire, an engineered thermostable Cas12a-derived CRISPR-Cas enzyme, enables one-pot LAMP/NEAR DETECTR detection with higher signal-to-noise and no transfers between steps.

• Why it matters: CRISPR diagnostics need enzymes that stay active under isothermal amplification temperatures and salt conditions, so amplification and readout can be combined into a simple workflow.
• What they did: The authors engineered MB-CasFire from a naturally thermostable Cas12a, then built OnePot DETECTR assays that pair it with LAMP or NEAR in a single reaction using commercially available isothermal master mixes.
• The result: MB-CasFire supported sensitive, specific detection of SARS-CoV-2 from nasal swabs and Neisseria gonorrhoeae from urine, and enabled multiplex detection and single-nucleotide polymorphism discrimination for antibiotic resistance genotyping.

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