# A Critical Review of the CRISPR-Cas Technology in the Detection of SARS-CoV-2 Variants

## TL;DR

This paper reviews how CRISPR-Cas technology is being used to detect and identify SARS-CoV-2 variants, highlighting its potential for rapid and accurate testing.

## Contribution

The paper provides a critical review of recent advances in CRISPR-based methods for detecting SARS-CoV-2 variants.

## Key findings

- CRISPR-based diagnostics offer high sensitivity and specificity for SARS-CoV-2 variant detection.
- These methods are suitable for field testing, high-throughput screening, and automation.
- CRISPR technology shows promise for rapid identification of emerging viral variants.

## Abstract

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is still going on, and as the epidemic situation continues, the genome of SARS-CoV-2 is also mutating and evolving, resulting in more and more SARS-CoV-2 mutant strains, which have brought serious pressure on the prevention and control of COVID-19. Given that the COVID-19 is still spreading, it is extremely important to rapidly identify SARS-CoV-2 variants by nucleic acid assays. Thus, developing highly sensitive and specific assays that are suitable for field testing, high-throughput, and automation, as well as other diagnostic applications for SARS-CoV-2 variants, is urgently needed. This paper reviews the research progress of novel CRISPR-based diagnostic methods for SARS-CoV-2 variants.