Loop-Mediated Isothermal Amplification Test for Detection of Neisseria gonorrhoeae in Urine Samples and Tolerance of the Assay to the Presence of Urea

A loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) assay for open reading frame 1 (ORF1) of the glutamine synthetase gene of Neisseria gonorrhoeae was able to tolerate urea concentrations of <= 1.8 M, compared with a PCR assay that was functional at concentrations of <100 mM. The LAMP assay was as sensitive as the PCR assay while being faster and simpler to perform.