Progress on isothermal amplification technologies and their applications in pathogen biological research

Nucleic acid amplification is one of the most important technologies used in the field of molecular biology.So far PCR is the most widely used method.However,it requires a thermocycling machine to amplify the required fragment,which limits its application in field as a basic detecting means.Novel development of molecular biology and its combination with other disciplines make it possible for nucleic acid amplification in isothermal condition.Several isothermal amplification technologies emerged over the last few years and these methods can be classified into direct amplification technologies and signal amplification systems based on whether they directly amplify the target genes.These technologies and their applications in pathogen biological research were reviewed in this paper.Characteristics of each method and the prospect of these technologies were also discussed. Key words: Isothermal amplification;  Direct amplification technologies;  Signal amplification systems;  Pathogen biology