Table 1 Key properties of representative polymerase-free and PCR-based technologies.
Polymerase-free | PCR-based | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
SMOLT | nCounter17 | Electrochemical sensor14 | ||||
LOD for single-stranded nucleic acid (fM) | 0.1 (whole blood) | 0.1 (buffer) | 0.1–0.5 (cell culture) | – | 7·10−7 (plasma) | – |
LOD for microbe in whole blood (CFU mL−1) | 1–3 | 4·104 | – | 107 | 10 | 1–11 |
Turnaround time (h) | 1.5 | 5.5 | >20 | 1 | 1.5–2 | 4–8 |
Multiplexing (number of targets) | >9 | 10 | >500 | 16 | 3 | 5 |
Instrumentation cost | Low | High | High | Low | High | High |
