Performance evaluation of a newly developed 2019-nCoV nucleic acid detection kit based on Ion Proton sequencing platform and its comparison with the MGI Tech (DNBSEQ-G99) platform

Purpose To evaluate the performance of a newly developed 2019-nCoV nucleic acid detection kit based on Ion Proton sequencing platform and make comparation with MGI Tech (DNBSEQ-G99) platform. Methods References and clinical samples were used to evaluate the precision, agreement rate, limit of detection (LOD), anti-interference ability and analytical specificity. Twenty-seven clinical specimens were used to make comparison between two platforms. Results The kit showed good intra-assay, inter-assay, inter-day precision between different operators and laboratories, fine agreement rate with references, a relatively low LOD of 1 × 103 copies/ml, anti-interference capability of 5% whole blood and 1mg/ml mucin and no cross reaction with twenty-nine common clinical pathogens. Consistency of variant classification was observed between two platforms. The WGS from Ion Proton tended to have higher coverage and less missing data. Conclusions The newly developed kit has shown satisfactory performances and excellent consistency with DNBSEQ-G99, making it a good alternative choice clinically.