Disclosed are microbial biomarkers and methods for accurate non-invasive diagnosis of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) in subjects. The microbial biomarkers include Lactococcus lactis as well as its strains and subspecies. The microbial biomarkers include Dorea sp. 5-2. The methods include measuring abundance or copy number of the one or more microbial biomarkers in a sample from the subject. The sample may be bodily fluid, mucus, or stool. Also described are methods of treating a subject with NAFLD by administering to the subject a composition containing Lactococcus lactis and/or Dorea sp. 5-2.

Methods and compositions are described for multi-stage primer extension reactions such as multiplex polymerase chain reactions (PCR) and reverse transcriptase PCR. Primer extension stages are performed in a closed vessel without opening the vessel between stages. The multi-stage primer extension methods and compositions utilize earlier stage primers in an earlier stage and later stage primers in a later stage, wherein the later stage primers are blocked from extension during the earlier stage. The blocked primers of the present technology comprise photocleavable blocking groups and are substantially inactive until the blocking group is cleaved by exposure to ultraviolet light. The blocked primers can be activated by ultraviolet light without opening the vessel.

The present invention relates to methods of diagnosing bladder cancer in a patient, involving determining the methylation status of Methylation Variable Positions (MVPs) in DNA from the patient and providing a diagnosis based on methylation status data. The invention also relates to methods of treating bladder cancer comprising providing a diagnosis of bladder cancer by the diagnostic methods defined herein followed by administering one or more anti-cancer agents to a patient. The invention also relates to methylation-discriminatory arrays comprising probes directed to the MVPs defined herein and kits comprising the arrays.

Provided herein are methods for determining the mislocalization of an analyte by capturing the analyte on an array and measuring the mislocalization distance.

This disclosure provides for devices, methods, and systems for performing a non-invasive prenatal testing (NIPT) digital assay upon generating at least a large number of counts per chromosome for a set of chromosomes present in a sample, where performing the NIPT digital assay can include: distributing nucleic acids of the sample and materials for an amplification reaction across a plurality of partitions; amplifying the nucleic acids with the materials, within the plurality of partitions; and generating counts per chromosome upon detecting signals from the plurality of partitions. The inventions enable processing of samples for NIPT digital analyses and/or other digital analyses involving other loci of interest, with unprecedented partitioning, reaction, readout, and analytical performance.

The present invention relates to a method for prenatal diagnosis using digital PCR, and more particularly to a method for providing information for diagnosis of chromosomal aneuploidy in a fetus, comprising: (a) extracting DNAs from pregnant woman's blood; (b) classifying the DNAs according to size to obtain DNAs having a size of 1,000 bp or less; (c) performing digital PCR using the obtained DNAs of step (b), for a control gene located on a chromosome not associated with chromosomal aneuploidy and a target gene located on a chromosome associated with chromosomal aneuploidy; (d) calculating a ratio of a quantitative digital PCR value of the target gene to a quantitative digital PCR value of the control gene; and (e) determining that when the ratio calculated in step (d) is 0.70-1.14, a chromosome number of the fetus is normal.

The present disclosure provides methods for determining whether a patient exhibiting cystic fibrosis symptoms, or a patient at risk for cystic fibrosis, will benefit from treatment with one or more anti-cystic fibrosis therapeutic agents. These methods are based on detecting hereditary cystic fibrosis related mutations in small-volume dried biological fluid samples that are collected using a volumetric absorptive microsampling device. Kits for use in practicing the methods are also provided.

Cell free nucleic acids from a test sample obtained from an individual are analyzed to identify possible fusion events. Cell free nucleic acids are sequenced and processed to generate fragments. Fragments are decomposed into kmers and the kmers are either analyzed de novo or compared to targeted nucleic acid sequences that are known to be associated with fusion gene pairs of interest. Thus, kmers that may have originated from a fusion event can be identified. These kmers are consolidated to generate gene ranges from various genes that match sequences in the fragment. A candidate fusion event can be called given the spanning of one or more gene ranges across the fragment.

Herein disclosed are rapid real-time isothermal multiplex methods of detecting, identifying and quantifying bacterial, viral, and protozoan nucleic acids in a sample. These include contacting the sample with two or more sets of pathogen-specific reverse transcription loop-mediated isothermal amplification primers and novel oligofluorophores specific for the target bacterial, viral, and parasitic nucleic acids of interest such as human immunodeficiency virus, Ebola virus, Marburg virus, Yellow fever virus, hepatitis-B virus, Lassa fever virus, Plasmodium, hepatitis-C virus, hepatitis-E virus, dengue virus, Chikungunya virus, Japanese Encephalitis virus, Middle Eastern Respiratory Syndrome Corona virus, Mycobacterium, West Nile virus, Cytomegalovirus, Parvovirus, Leishmania, Trypanosoma, and Zika virus nucleic acids, under conditions sufficient to produce detectable real-time amplification signals in about 10 to 40 minutes. The amplification signals are produced by pathogen-specific fluorogenic labels included in one or more of the primers. Also, novel reaction and sample lysis buffers, primers, and kits for rapid multiplex detection, quantification, and identification of bacterial, viral, and protozoan nucleic acids by real-time isothermal amplification are herein disclosed.

Methods, compositions, kits, and computer program code are provided for predicting somaclonal abnormality (e.g., a Mantled phenotype) in a plant and or sorting plants based on the predicted presence or absence of somaclonal abnormality.