DNA synergistic enzyme-mediated cascade reaction for homogeneous electrochemical bioassay

Imunocapture Magnetic Beads Enhanced and Ultrasensitive CRISPR-Cas13a-Assisted Electrochemical Biosensor for Rapid Detection of SARS-CoV-2

The rapid and ongoing spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), emphasizes the urgent need for an easy and sensitive virus detection method. Here, we describe an immunocapture magnetic bead-enhanced electrochemical biosensor for ultrasensitive SARS-CoV-2 detection based on clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR) and CRISPR-associated (Cas) proteins, collectively known as CRISPR-Cas13a technology. At the core of the detection process, low-cast and immobilization-free commercial screen-printed carbon electrodes are used to measure the electrochemical signal, while streptavidin-coated immunocapture magnetic beads are used to reduce the background noise signal and enhance detection ability by separating the excessive report RNA, and a combination of isothermal amplification methods in the CRISPR-Cas13a system is used for nucleic acid detection. The results showed that the sensitivity of the biosensor increased by two orders of magnitude when the magnetic beads were used. The proposed biosensor required approximately 1 h of overall processing time and demonstrated an ultrasensitive ability to detect SARS-CoV-2, which could be as low as 1.66 aM. Furthermore, owing to the programmability of the CRISPR-Cas13a system, the biosensor can be flexibly applied to other viruses, providing a new approach for powerful clinical diagnostics.

Rapid detection of foodborne pathogens in diverse foodstuffs by universal electrochemical aptasensor based on UiO-66 and methylene blue composites

Rapid and sensitive detection of foodborne pathogens in complex environments is essential for food protection. A universal electrochemical aptasensor was fabricated for the detection of three common foodborne pathogens, including Escherichia coli (E. coli), Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus), and Salmonella typhimurium (S. typhimurium). The aptasensor was developed based on the homogeneous and membrane filtration strategy. Zirconium-based metal-organic framework (UiO-66)/methylene blue (MB)/aptamer composite was designed as a signal amplification and recognition probe. Bacteria were quantitatively detected by the current changes of MB. By simply changing the aptamer, different bacteria could be detected. The detection limits of E. coli, S. aureus and S. typhimurium were 5, 4 and 3 CFU·mL^-1, respectively. In humidity and salt environments, the stability of the aptasensor was satisfactory. The aptasensor exhibited satisfactory detection performance in different real samples. This aptasensor has excellent potential for rapid detection of foodborne pathogens in complex environments.

Overview on the Design of Magnetically Assisted Electrochemical Biosensors

Electrochemical biosensors generally require the immobilization of recognition elements or capture probes on the electrode surface. This may limit their practical applications due to the complex operation procedure and low repeatability and stability. Magnetically assisted biosensors show remarkable advantages in separation and pre-concentration of targets from complex biological samples. More importantly, magnetically assisted sensing systems show high throughput since the magnetic materials can be produced and preserved on a large scale. In this work, we summarized the design of electrochemical biosensors involving magnetic materials as the platforms for recognition reaction and target conversion. The recognition reactions usually include antigen-antibody, DNA hybridization, and aptamer-target interactions. By conjugating an electroactive probe to biomolecules attached to magnetic materials, the complexes can be accumulated near to an electrode surface with the aid of external magnet field, producing an easily measurable redox current. The redox current can be further enhanced by enzymes, nanomaterials, DNA assemblies, and thermal-cycle or isothermal amplification. In magnetically assisted assays, the magnetic substrates are removed by a magnet after the target conversion, and the signal can be monitored through stimuli-response release of signal reporters, enzymatic production of electroactive species, or target-induced generation of messenger DNA.

Recent Progresses in Development of Biosensors for Thrombin Detection

Thrombin is a serine protease with an essential role in homeostasis and blood coagulation. During vascular injuries, thrombin is generated from prothrombin, a plasma protein, to polymerize fibrinogen molecules into fibrin filaments. Moreover, thrombin is a potent stimulant for platelet activation, which causes blood clots to prevent bleeding. The rapid and sensitive detection of thrombin is important in biological analysis and clinical diagnosis. Hence, various biosensors for thrombin measurement have been developed. Biosensors are devices that produce a quantifiable signal from biological interactions in proportion to the concentration of a target analyte. An aptasensor is a biosensor in which a DNA or RNA aptamer has been used as a biological recognition element and can identify target molecules with a high degree of sensitivity and affinity. Designed biosensors could provide effective methods for the highly selective and specific detection of thrombin. This review has attempted to provide an update of the various biosensors proposed in the literature, which have been designed for thrombin detection. According to their various transducers, the constructions and compositions, the performance, benefits, and restrictions of each are summarized and compared.

An efficient multi-enzyme cascade platform based on mesoporous metal-organic frameworks for the detection of organophosphorus and glucose

An efficient colorimetric detection platform based on multi-enzyme cascade has been developed for detection of organophosphorus. Firstly, the dual-enzyme platform was prepared and applied for sensitive glucose detection (detection limit 0.32 μM). And then three enzymes, including acetylcholinesterase, horseradish peroxidase and choline oxidase were encapsulated in cruciate flower-like zeolitic imidazolate framework-8 (CF-ZIF-8) through one-step co-precipitation to construct detection platform with acetylcholine chloride as substrate. The acephate inhibited the activity of acetylcholinesterase, obstructed the cascade reaction and reduced the production of H₂O₂, resulting in the changes of color intensity for the colorimetric detection. With suitable size and porous structure, CF-ZIF-8 provided a good microenvironment for guaranteeing the activity and spatial proximity of enzymes. The multi-enzyme platform displayed great performances with the detection limit of 0.23 nM for acephate. It was applied to the detection of acephate in Chinese cabbage and romaine, verifying the practicability of this platform.

Sensitive sandwich-type electrochemical SARS-CoV‑2 nucleocapsid protein immunosensor

A sensitive and fast sandwich-type electrochemical SARS-CoV‑2 (COVID-19) nucleocapsid protein immunosensor was prepared based on bismuth tungstate/bismuth sulfide composite (Bi₂WO₆/Bi₂S₃) as electrode platform and graphitic carbon nitride sheet decorated with gold nanoparticles (Au NPs) and tungsten trioxide sphere composite (g-C₃N₄/Au/WO₃) as signal amplification. The electrostatic interactions between capture antibody and Bi₂WO₆/Bi₂S₃ led to immobilization of the capture nucleocapsid antibody. The detection antibody was then conjugated to g-C₃N₄/Au/WO₃ via the affinity of amino-gold. After physicochemically characterization via transmission electron microscopy (TEM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), x-ray diffraction (XRD), and x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), cyclic voltammetry (CV), differential pulse voltammetry (DPV), and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) analysis were implemented to evaluate the electrochemical performance of the prepared immunosensor. The detection of SARS-CoV-2 nucleocapsid protein (SARS-CoV-2 NP) in a small saliva sample (100.0 µL) took just 30 min and yielded a detection limit (LOD) of 3.00 fg mL⁻¹, making it an effective tool for point-of-care COVID-19 testing.

Aptamer and bifunctional enzyme co-functionalized MOF-derived porous carbon for low-background electrochemical aptasensing

To improve the efficiency of aptasensors, a signal amplification strategy by coupling tyrosinase (Tyr)-triggered redox cycling with nanoscale porous carbon (NCZIF) has been proposed. The NCZIF was obtained by calcining ZIF-8 crystals in an inert atmosphere. It had high surface areas, great biocompatibility, and ease of functionalization, which was beneficial for immobilizing sufficient Tyr and aptamer covalently. When the target prostate-specific antigen (PSA) was present, the NCZIF functionalized with Tyr and an aptamer bound to the aptamer-modified Au electrode specifically through the sandwich structure. Then, Tyr acted to oxidize the electroinactive phenol, which led to low-background signal, in the substrate to electroactive catechol, and triggered the redox cycling under the action of NADH. The low detection limit of the proposed electrochemical aptasensor for PSA was 0.01 ng mL^-1, and the wide detection range was from 0.01 to 50 ng mL^-1. The use of ZIF-8 derived porous carbon and Tyr-triggered redox cycling system provided a promising solution for the development of simple, rapid, reliable, and low-background aptasensing methods, which had great potential in the field of disease diagnosis and biomedicine.

Simple homogeneous electrochemical target-responsive aptasensor based on aptamer bio-gated and porous carbon nanocontainer derived from ZIF-8

A simple homogeneous electrochemical aptasensor was designed by using target-responsive substrate releasing from aptamer-gated zeolitic imidazolate framework-8 (ZIF-8)-derived porous carbon nanocontainer. The nanocontainer (Z-700) was prepared by calcination of ZIF-8 at 700 °C. Z-700 had great biocompatibility, high surface areas and pore volume, especially the graphene-like π-rich structure, which was beneficial for adsorbing aptamer easily. The electroactive dyes methylene blue (MB) was then trapped in the pores of Z-700 and easily capped with aptamer as gatekeeper based on π-stacking interaction. Upon addition of target protein thrombin (Thb), the Thb could specifically recognize and combine with its aptamer to form complex. Thereafter, the aptamer bio-gate opened and the MB released from the pores, which could be detected on the screen-printed electrode. Under the optimized conditions, the proposed Thb aptasensor showed a wide detection range from 1 fM to 1 nM with a low detection limit of 0.57 fM. The strategy by using ZIF-8-derived porous carbon and aptamer bio-gate provides a promising scheme for developing simple, rapid, reliable and ultrasensitive bioassays, which has a great potential as a powerful tool in disease diagnosis and biomedicine.