The stabilization of Au NP–AChE nanocomposites by biosilica encapsulation for the development of a thiocholine biosensor

Biominerals and Bioinspired Materials in Biosensing: Recent Advancements and Applications

Inspired by nature's remarkable ability to form intricate minerals, researchers have unlocked transformative strategies for creating next-generation biosensors with exceptional sensitivity, selectivity, and biocompatibility. By mimicking how organisms orchestrate mineral growth, biomimetic and bioinspired materials are significantly impacting biosensor design. Engineered bioinspired materials offer distinct advantages over their natural counterparts, boasting superior tunability, precise controllability, and the ability to integrate specific functionalities for enhanced sensing capabilities. This remarkable versatility enables the construction of various biosensing platforms, including optical sensors, electrochemical sensors, magnetic biosensors, and nucleic acid detection platforms, for diverse applications. Additionally, bioinspired materials facilitate the development of smartphone-assisted biosensing platforms, offering user-friendly and portable diagnostic tools for point-of-care applications. This review comprehensively explores the utilization of naturally occurring and engineered biominerals and materials for diverse biosensing applications. We highlight the fabrication and design strategies that tailor their functionalities to address specific biosensing needs. This in-depth exploration underscores the transformative potential of biominerals and materials in revolutionizing biosensing, paving the way for advancements in healthcare, environmental monitoring, and other critical fields.

Recent Progress in Electrochemical Nano-Biosensors for Detection of Pesticides and Mycotoxins in Foods

Pesticide and mycotoxin residues in food are concerning as they are harmful to human health. Traditional methods, such as high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) for such detection lack sensitivity and operation convenience. Efficient, accurate detection approaches are needed. With the recent development of nanotechnology, electrochemical biosensors based on nanomaterials have shown solid ability to detect trace pesticides and mycotoxins quickly and accurately. In this review, English articles about electrochemical biosensors in the past 11 years (2011-2022) were collected from PubMed database, and various nanomaterials are discussed, including noble metal nanomaterials, magnetic metal nanoparticles, metal-organic frameworks, carbon nanotubes, as well as graphene and its derivatives. Three main roles of such nanomaterials in the detection process are summarized, including biomolecule immobilization, signal generation, and signal amplification. The detection targets involve two types of pesticides (organophosphorus and carbamate) and six types of mycotoxins (aflatoxin, deoxynivalenol, zearalenone, fumonisin, ochratoxin A, and patulin). Although significant achievements have been made in the evolution of electrochemical nano-biosensors, many challenges remain to be overcome.

Electrochemical detection of malathion pesticide using acetylcholinesterase biosensor based on glassy carbon electrode modified with conducting polymer film

Acetylcholinesterase (AChE) biosensor based on conducting poly([2,2̍';5̍' 2″]-terthiophene-3̍-carbaldehyde) (PTT) modified glassy carbon electrode (GCE) was constructed. AChE was immobilized on PTT film surface through the covalent bond between aldehyde and amino groups. The properties of PTT modified GCE were studied using cyclic voltammetry (CV), electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS), and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The biosensor showed an oxidation peak at +0.83 V related to the oxidation of thiocholine, hydrolysis product of acetylthiocholine iodide (ATCI), catalyzed by AChE. The optimum current response of the biosensor was observed at pH 7.5-8.0, 40 °C and 120 U/cm(2) of AChE concentration. The biosensor showed a high sensitivity (183.19 μA/mM), a linear range from 0.015 to 1.644 mM, and a good reproducibility with 1.7 % of relative standard deviation (RSD). The biosensor showed a good stability. The interference of glycin, ascorbic acid, histidine, uric acid, dopamine, and arginine on the biosensor response was studied. An important analytical response from these inteferents that overlaps the biosensor response was not observed. The inhibition rate of malathion as a model pesticide was proportional to its concentrations from 9.99 to 99.01 nM. The detection limit was 4.08 nM.

Plant Esterase-Chitosan/Gold Nanoparticles-Graphene Nanosheet Composite-Based Biosensor for the Ultrasensitive Detection of Organophosphate Pesticides

As broad-spectrum pesticides, organophosphates (OPs) are widely used in agriculture all over the world. However, due to their neurotoxicity in humans and their increasing occurrence in the environment, there is growing interest in their sensitive and selective detection. This paper reports a new cost-effective plant esterase-chitosan/gold nanoparticles-graphene nanosheet (PLaE-CS/AuNPs-GNs) biosensor for the sensitive detection of methyl parathion and malathion. Highly pure plant esterase is produced from plants at low cost and shares the same inhibition mechanism with OPs as acetylcholinesterase, and then it was used to prepare PLaE-CS/AuNPs-GNs nanocomposites, which were systematically characterized using SEM, TEM, and UV-vis. The PLaE-CS/AuNPs-GNs composite-based biosensor measured as low as 50 ppt (0.19 nM) of methyl parathion and 0.5 ppb (1.51 nM) of malathion (S/N = 3) with a calibration curve up to 200 ppb (760 nM) and 500 ppb (1513.5 nM) for methyl parathion and malathion, respectively. There is also no interference observed from most of common species such as metal ions, inorganic ions, glucose, and citric acid. In addition, its applicability to OPs-contaminated real samples (carrot and apple) was also demonstrated with excellent response recovery. The developed simple, sensitive, and reliable PLaE-CS/AuNPs-GNs composite-based biosensor holds great potential in OPs detection for food and environmental safety.