Sensitive and rapid detection of sulfate-reducing bacteria in jet fuel by loop-mediated isothermal amplification combined with lateral flow dipstick

Abstract

The existence of Sulfate-Reducing Bacteria (SRB) is one of the significant reasons for the Microbially Influenced Corrosion (MIC) of jet fuel. Especially for the jet fuel stored by military, since jet fuel is stored in the tank for a long time, some oxygen-consuming bacteria such as Amorphotheca resinae and Bacillus Cohn can consume oxygen and generate organic acids at the oilwater interface of the tank bottom. This causes anaerobic SRB flourish in fuel tanks. In this study, a loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) combined with a chromatographic Lateral Flow Dipstick (LFD) assay was established to detect the SRB. Four groups of LAMP primers were designed and synthesized to target dsrB (dissimilatory sulfite reductase β-subunit) genes in SRB.LAMP-LFD can detect 121 fg/μL of SRB DNA within 35 min. The detection limit of this method is 1000 times more sensitive than the conventional PCR and shortens the detection time greatly. This method is negative for other eight common bacteria species in jet fuel, indicating that the method has high specificity. In summary, this method can be used to detect the presence of SRB in jet fuel.