Abstract
Loop‐mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) is a novel technique for nucleic acid amplification with high specificity, sensitivity and rapidity and does not require expensive equipment or reagents. In the present study, we developed and evaluated a LAMP method for the rapid detection of Renibacterium salmoninarum causing the bacterial kidney disease in salmonids. This method was more sensitive than quantitative real‐time polymerase chain reaction (qPCR). Using DNA template extracted from cultured R. salmoninarum , the LAMP method gave an amplification signal from template diluted to 10 −8 while the limit of detection of qPCR was10 −7 . The LAMP method was also highly specific and did not amplify DNA purified from five other Gram‐positive and ‐negative bacterial fish pathogens. The method also worked well using extracts of macrophages infected with R. salmoninarum and kidney material from rainbow trout, which were positive for R. salmoninarum by qPCR and crude R. salmoninarum culture. There was some evidence for inhibitors of the LAMP reaction in the kidney samples, which was overcome by diluting the sample.