Biosensors & bioelectronicsAug 21, 2021

Recent progress and future outlook for virus detection using CRISPR-Cas technology

CRISPR Gene Editing Weekly Brief ↗PubMed ↗DOI ↗

Updated Mar 17, 2026

Abstract

CRISPR-Cas systems, particularly Cas12a and Cas13a, are emerging as powerful tools for virus detection.

CRISPR-Cas systems have been adapted for molecular diagnostics, enhancing virus detection capabilities.
Cas12a and Cas13a are noted for their sensitivity, specificity, and programmability in recognizing nucleic acids.
Recent advances indicate that these systems could significantly improve the speed and accuracy of virus identification.
The review discusses the advantages of CRISPR-Cas based methods over traditional detection approaches.
Challenges and future perspectives in the application of CRISPR-Cas technology for virus detection are also addressed.

Simplified

Viral infections are one of the most intimidating threats to human beings. One convincing example is the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by SARS-CoV-2. Rapid, sensitive, specific and field-deployable identification of causal viruses is critical for disease surveillance, control and treatment. The shortcomings of current methods create an impending need for developing novel biosensing platforms. CRISPR-Cas systems, especially CRISPR-Cas12a and CRISPR-Cas13a, characterized by their sensitivity, specificity, high base resolution and programmability upon nucleic acid recognition, have been repurposed for molecular diagnostics, surging a new path forward in biosensing. They, as the core of some robust diagnostic tools, are revolutionizing the way that virus can be detected. This review focuses on recent advances in virus detection with CRISPR-Cas systems especially CRISPR-Cas12a/Cas13a. We started with a short introduction to CRISPR-Cas systems and the properties of Cas12a and Cas13a effectors, and continued with reviewing the current advances of virus detection utilizing CRISPR-Cas systems. The significance and advantages of such methods were then discussed. Finally, the challenges and perspectives were proposed. We tried to provide readers with a concise profile of emerging and fast-expanding CRISPR-Cas based biosensing technology, and highlighted its potential applications in a range of scenarios with regard to virus detection.

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Funding

Competing interests

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

PubMed

Recent progress and future outlook for virus detection using CRISPR-Cas technology

Abstract

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Funding

Competing interests

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