A simple and ultrasensitive fluorescence assay for single-nucleotide polymorphism

Recent Progress in Single-Nucleotide Polymorphism Biosensors

Single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), the most common form of genetic variation in the human genome, are the main cause of individual differences. Furthermore, such attractive genetic markers are emerging as important hallmarks in clinical diagnosis and treatment. A variety of destructive abnormalities, such as malignancy, cardiovascular disease, inherited metabolic disease, and autoimmune disease, are associated with single-nucleotide variants. Therefore, identification of SNPs is necessary for better understanding of the gene function and health of an individual. SNP detection with simple preparation and operational procedures, high affinity and specificity, and cost-effectiveness have been the key challenge for years. Although biosensing methods offer high specificity and sensitivity, as well, they suffer drawbacks, such as complicated designs, complicated optimization procedures, and the use of complicated chemistry designs and expensive reagents, as well as toxic chemical compounds, for signal detection and amplifications. This review aims to provide an overview on improvements for SNP biosensing based on fluorescent and electrochemical methods. Very recently, novel designs in each category have been presented in detail. Furthermore, detection limitations, advantages and disadvantages, and challenges have also been presented for each type.

Functional nucleic acid biosensors utilizing rolling circle amplification

Functional nucleic acids regulate rolling circle amplification to produce multiple detection outputs suitable for the development of point-of-care diagnostic devices.

Colorimetric detection of class A soybean saponins by coupling DNAzyme with the gap ligase chain reaction

Class A saponins are responsible for the taste of soybean products, and the rapid identification of class A saponins from soybean food is essential for both food safety and cultivar screening. In this study, we propose a colorimetric assay based on the coupling of gap ligase chain reaction (Gap-LCR) with DNAzyme to detect the target GmSg-1 genes of class A soybean saponins with the naked eye, without the involvement of expensive instruments. The limits of detection (LODs) for the GmSg-1a and GmSg-1b genes were determined to be 0.1618 and 0.1625 μM, respectively, with a linear range of 0.2-1.2 μM. The DNAzyme-based Gap LCR assay was successfully employed to identify the target genes from different soybean cultivars, providing a simple means for monitoring the quality of soybean products.

Automated on-chip analysis of tuberculosis drug-resistance mutation with integrated DNA ligation and amplification

Detection of a single base mutation in Mycobacterium tuberculosis DNA can provide fast and highly specific diagnosis of antibiotic-resistant tuberculosis. Mutation-specific ligation of padlock probes (PLPs) on the target followed by rolling circle amplification (RCA) is highly specific, but challenging to integrate in a simple microfluidic device due to the low temperature stability of the phi29 polymerase and the interference of phi29 with the PLP annealing and ligation. Here, we utilized the higher operation temperature and temperature stability of Equiphi29 polymerase to simplify the integration of the PLP ligation and RCA steps of an RCA assay in two different strategies performed at uniform temperature. In strategy I, PLP annealing took place off-chip and the PLP ligation and RCA were performed in one pot and the two reactions were clocked by a change of the temperature. For a total assay time of about 1.5 h, we obtained a limit of detection of 2 pM. In strategy II, the DNA ligation mixture and the RCA mixture were separated into two chambers on a microfluidic disc. After on-disc PLP annealing and ligation, the disc was spun to mix reagents and initiate RCA. For a total assay time of about 2 h, we obtained a limit of detection of 5 pM. Graphical abstract.

Facilely prepared low-density DNA monolayer-based electrochemical biosensor with high detection performance in human serum

Presently, most reported electrochemical biosensors, for highly sensitive and selective detection of nucleic acid, still require multiple, time-consuming assembly steps and high-consumption DNA probes as well as lack good performance in human serum, which greatly limit their applicability. Herein, an easy-to-fabricate electrochemical DNA biosensor constructed by assembly of bovine serum albumin (BSA) followed with direct incubation of amplified products has been proposed. This method combined terminal deoxynucleoside transferase (TdTase)-mediated isothermal amplification and polyHRP catalysis to achieve dual-signal enhancement, and was featured with low-density DNA monolayer for its employment of only 2 nM capture probes. Surprisingly, based on the low-density DNA monolayer, the steric hindrance effect of polyHRP could effectively restrain the background compared with HRP, which further pushes the signal-to-noise (S/N) ratio to 70 than that of most currently available methods. Additionally, this strategy also showed favorable specificity and powerful anti-interference in human serum, and thus potentially attractive for diagnosis of diseases.

Graphene oxide-based biosensing platform for rapid and sensitive detection of HIV-1 protease

HIV-1 protease is essential for the life cycle of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), and is one of the most important clinical targets for antiretroviral therapies. In this work, we developed a graphene oxide (GO)-based fluorescence biosensing platform for the rapid, sensitive, and accurate detection of HIV-1 protease, in which fluorescent-labeled HIV-1 protease substrate peptide molecules were covalently linked to GO. In the absence of HIV-1 protease, fluorescein was effectively quenched by GO. In contrast, in the presence of HIV-1 protease, it would cleave the substrate peptide into short fragments, thus producing fluorescence. Based on this sensing strategy, HIV-1 protease could be detected at as low as 1.18 ng/mL. More importantly, the sensor could successfully detect HIV-1 protease in human serum. Such GO-based fluorescent sensors may find useful applications in many fields, including diagnosis of protease-related diseases, as well as sensitive and high-throughput screening of drug candidates. Graphical abstract ᅟ.