CRISPR-Cas, Argonaute proteins and the emerging landscape of amplification-free diagnostics

Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) is the reigning gold standard for molecular diagnostics. However, the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic reveals an urgent need for new diagnostics that provide users with immediate results without complex procedures or sophisticated equipment. These new demands have stimulated a tsunami of innovations that improve turnaround times without compromising the specificity and sensitivity that has established PCR as the paragon of diagnostics. Here we briefly introduce the origins of PCR and isothermal amplification, before turning to the emergence of CRISPR-Cas and Argonaute proteins, which are being coupled to fluorimeters, spectrometers, microfluidic devices, field-effect transistors, and amperometric biosensors, for a new generation of nucleic acid-based diagnostics.