A test strip platform based on DNA-functionalized gold nanoparticles for on-site detection of mercury (II) ions

Ultrasensitive fluorescence sensor for Hg2+ in food based on three-dimensional upconversion nanoclusters and aptamer-modulated thymine-Hg2+-thymine strategy

Mercury (Hg²⁺) is a potentially toxic heavy metal ion found to be drastically deleterious to humans. Herein, an ultrasensitive fluorescence sensor was developed using three-dimensional upconversion nanoclusters (EBSUCNPs) and aptamer-modulated thymine-Hg²⁺-thymine strategy. The EBSUCNPs were used as the energy donors, the PDANPs served as the acceptors, and the aptamer was applied as an identification tag for Hg²⁺. Due to the energy transfer effect, the fluorescence of EBSUCNPs can be effectively quenched by Polydopamine nanoparticles (PDANPs). In the existence of Hg²⁺, T (thymine)-rich aptamers between EBSUCNPs and PDANPs were hybridized with Hg²⁺ to yield thymine-Hg²⁺-thymine and folded back to hairpin structure, causing PDANPs to detach from the EBSUCNPS and the recovery of fluorescence. Under optimum conditions, the linear sensing range of Hg²⁺ was 0.5-20 µg/L, and the detection limit was 0.28 µg/L. Furthermore, it exhibited excellent selectivity and anti-interference, which made it an ideal method for identifying Hg²⁺ in spiked samples.

A Comprehensive Review on Water Quality Monitoring Devices: Materials Advances, Current Status, and Future Perspective

Water quality monitoring has become more critical in recent years to ensure the availability of clean and safe water from natural aquifers and to understand the evolution of water contaminants across time and space. The conventional water monitoring techniques comprise of sample collection, preservation, preparation, tailed by laboratory testing and analysis with cumbersome wet chemical routes and expensive instrumentation. Despite the high accuracy of these methods, the high testing costs, laborious procedures, and maintenance associated with them don't make them lucrative for end end-users and field testing. As the participation of ultimate stakeholders, that is, common man for water quality and quantity can play a pivotal role in ensuring the sustainability of our aquifers, thus it is essential to develop and deploy portable and user-friendly technical systems for monitoring water sources in real-time or on-site. The present review emphasizes here on possible approaches including optical (absorbance, fluorescence, colorimetric, X-ray fluorescence, chemiluminescence), electrochemical (ASV, CSV, CV, EIS, and chronoamperometry), electrical, biological, and surface-sensing (SPR and SERS), as candidates for developing such platforms. The existing developments, their success, and bottlenecks are discussed in terms of various attributes of water to escalate the essentiality of water quality devices development meeting ASSURED criterion for societal usage. These platforms are also analyzed in terms of their market potential, advancements required from material science aspects, and possible integration with IoT solutions in alignment with Industry 4.0 for environmental application.

Development of a portable lab-on-a-valve device for making primary diagnoses based on gold-nanoparticle aggregation induced by a switchable linker

We have developed a low-cost, portable lab-on-a-valve (LOV) integrated microdevice for the detection of pathogens in primary-diagnosis settings. This system was designed for field-based pathogen detection based on the aggregation of gold nanoparticles induced by a switchable linker. A three-way valve, which has attracted much attention as a functional mesofluidic platform for pressure-driven flow, has been designed as a universal reaction platform that combines the functions of fluid flow and a reaction chamber. In addition, we obtain rapid and enhanced visual signals by the use of a syringe filter to remove gold nano-aggregates (Au NAs). Using this device, Salmonella Typhimurium down to 101 CFU mL-1 can be visually detected within 30 min by performing a simple operation that requires no complex equipment. This prototype device has great potential for use in the semi-quantitative and qualitative identification of pathogens in on-site primary diagnoses.

A test strip platform based on a whole-cell microbial biosensor for simultaneous on-site detection of total inorganic mercury pollutants in cosmetics without the need for predigestion

Mercury pollutants such as mercuric chloride (HgCl₂), mercurous chloride (Hg₂Cl₂) and mercuric ammonium chloride (Hg(NH₂)Cl) are often found in cosmetics. Previous attempts at the on-site detection of mercury were hindered by the complicated and dangerous pretreatment procedure of converting various forms of mercury to Hg (II) ions. In this study, a test strip platform was developed based on a whole-cell microbial biosensor for the simultaneous detection of soluble and insoluble inorganic mercury pollutants in cosmetics without the need for predigestion. The genetic circuits with constitutively expressed MerR as sensor proteins and inducible red fluorescent protein (RFP) as the reporter were introduced into Escherichia coli to construct the mercury detection biosensor. The RFP fluorescence intensity of this biosensor showed a excellent linear relationship (R² = 0.9848) with the Hg (II) concentration ranging from 50 nM to 10 μM in Luria-Bertani (LB) broth. Further research indicated that this biosensor could respond not only to Hg (II) ions but also to insoluble Hg₂Cl₂ and Hg₂Cl₂. The transcriptomic results confirmed the mercury conversion ability of the whole-cell biosensor from a gene expression perspective. This biosensor was embedded on filter paper to form a test strip, which could be used to determine whether the total inorganic mercury pollutants in cosmetics exceeded 1 mg/kg. Therefore, this strip provided a low cost, easy-to-use, and instrument-independent method for the detection of mercury pollution in cosmetics, while this study revealed the unique advantages of microbial biosensors in the automatic bioconversion of targets.

Bio-Recognition in Spectroscopy-Based Biosensors for *Heavy Metals-Water and Waterborne Contamination Analysis

: Microsystems and biomolecules integration as well multiplexing determinations are key aspects of sensing devices in the field of heavy metal contamination monitoring. The present review collects the most relevant information about optical biosensors development in the last decade. Focus is put on analytical characteristics and applications that are dependent on: (i) Signal transduction method (luminescence, colorimetry, evanescent wave (EW), surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS), Förster resonance energy transfer (FRET), surface plasmon resonance (SPR)); (ii) biorecognition molecules employed (proteins, nucleic acids, aptamers, and enzymes). The biosensing systems applied (or applicable) to water and milk samples will be considered for a comparative analysis, with an emphasis on water as the primary source of possible contamination along the food chain.

Recombinant streptavidin fusion proteins as signal reporters in rapid test of human hepatitis C virus infection

BACKGROUND

Early diagnosis of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is very important for the treatment of the disease. Development of sensitive and specific rapid detection assays is of great significance for the diagnosis. Here, we describe a promising method of using gold-labeled streptavidin fusion proteins as novel signal reporter in a rapid detection assay for HCV infection.

METHODS

Recombinant genes encoding streptavidin fused with Escherichia coli maltose-binding protein (MBP) or with a portion of bacterial translational initiation factor 2 were cloned in expression vectors pMAL-5CX and pET28 and transformed in proper Escherichia coli host strains. The genes were induced and streptavidin fusion proteins, named M-STV and IF-STV, respectively, were purified by affinity chromatography to over 90% purity. The biotin-binding activity of M-STV and IF-STV was tested by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). M-STV was labeled with colloidal gold nanoparticles and used as a signal reporter to develop a lateral flow-based rapid test for detecting anti-HCV antibodies in human blood samples.

RESULTS

M-STV showed slightly higher biotin-binding activity and similar binding specificity as compared to commercial streptavidin. The gold-labeled M-STV bound specifically to biotin moieties immobilized on the rapid test strips in a dose-responsive manner and was successfully used in detecting HCV antibodies in serum samples of patients infected with HCV. The rapid test displayed higher detection sensitivity than gold-labeled commercial NeutrAvidin.

CONCLUSION

Our results indicate that gold-labeled M-STV is a promising agent in rapid tests of HCV infection and possibly other viral infections.

Lateral flow test for visual detection of silver (I) based on cytosine-Ag(I)-cytosine interaction in C-rich oligonucleotides

The authors describe an oligonucleotide-based lateral flow test for visual detection of Ag(I). The assay is based on cytosine-Ag(I)-cytosine [C-Ag(I)-C] coordination chemistry to capture gold nanoparticle (AuNP) tags in the test zone. A thiolated C-rich oligonucleotide probe was immobilized on the AuNPs via gold-thiol chemistry, and a biotinylated C-rich oligonucleotide probe was immobilized on the test zone. The AuNPs labelled with C-rich oligonucleotides are captured by Ag(I) ions in the test zone through the C-Ag(I)-C coordination. The resulting accumulation of AuNPs produces a readily visible red band in the test zone. Under optimized conditions, the test is capable of visually detecting 1.0 ppb of Ag(I) which is 50 times lower than the maximum allowable concentration as defined by the US Environmental Protection Agency for drinking water. Hence, the test is inexpensive and highly sensitive. It was applied to the detection of Ag(I) in spiked samples of tap water and river water. In our perception, the test is a particularly valuable tool in limited resource settings.

Facile fabrication of paper-based analytical devices for rapid and highly selective colorimetric detection of cesium in environmental samples

Cesium (Cs), a radioactive contaminant of the ecosystem, causes a major risk to human health and environments. This chemo-indicator is designed to exhibit a powerful detection capability featuring high selectivity and sensitivity to inactive Cs.

An elegant and handy selective sensor for ppt level determination of mercury ions

Competitive adsorption of Hg²⁺ on graphene in the presence of fluorescein leads to mercury sensing ability for the graphene dye unit.

A relay strategy for the mercury (II) chemodosimeter with ultra-sensitivity as test strips

A relay strategy has been proposed to design a new Hg(2+) chemodosimeter (TPE-S), by coupling Hg(2+)-promoted deprotection reaction with ketone-enol isomerization, realizing the multistage amplifying effect. Changes in both of color and fluorescence could occur immediately, and TPE-S displayed high selectivity for Hg(2+), other metal ions (Ag(+), Fe(3+), Cu(2+), Pb(2+), Co(2+), Cr(3+), Al(3+), Cd(2+), Mg(2+), Mn(2+), Ba(2+), Fe(2+), Ca(2+), Ni(2+), Zn(2+), Li(+), K(+) and Na(+)) gave nearly no disturbance to the sensing process. When fabricated as test strips similar to pH-indicator papers, immediate color change from colorless to purple could be visually observed by naked-eyes without the aid of any additional equipment, with the detection limit as low as 1 × 10(-7) M (Hg(2+) in aqueous solution). Due to its easy synthesis, high selectivity and sensitivity, combined with the portable test strips, TPE-S could be developed as a convenient and cost-effective tool for the detection of Hg(2+) in on-site inspections.

A pyrene based Schiff base probe for selective fluorescence turn-on detection of Hg2+ ions with live cell application

A novel pyrene based free thiol containing a Schiff base derivative PT1 was synthesized and reported as a fluorescence turn-on sensor for Hg²⁺ ions, via CHEF and excimer (PT1-PT1*) formation with live cell imaging.

New cellulose-lysine Schiff-base-based sensor-adsorbent for mercury ions

Mercury is a highly toxic environmental pollutant; thus, there is an urgent need to develop new materials for its simultaneous detection and removal from water. In the present study, new oxidized cellulose-based materials, including their Schiff bases, were synthesized and investigated as a sensor-adsorbent for simple, rapid, highly selective, and simultaneous detection and removal of mercury [Hg(II)] ions. Cellulose was extracted from the pine needles, etherified, oxidized, and modified to Schiff base by reaction with l-lysine. The well-characterized cellulose Schiff base materials were used as a sensor-adsorbent for Hg(II) from aqueous solution. Hg(II) sensing was analysed with naked-eye detection and fluorescence spectroscopy. Schiff base having a decyl chain, C10-O-cell-HC═N-Lys, was observed to be an efficient adsorbent with a very high maximum adsorption capacity of 258.75 mg g(-1). The data were analyzed on the basis of various kinetic and isotherm models, and pseudo-second-order kinetics and Langmuir isotherm were followed for Hg(II) adsorption.

Visual sensor for the detection of trace Cu(II) ions using an immunochromatographic strip

A rapid and simple immunochromatography method based on a gold nanoparticle-labeled monoclonal antibody was developed for the on-site detection of copper (Cu) in water samples. This monoclonal antibody, obtained by a cell fusion technique, recognized the Cu-ethylenediamine-N,N,N',N'-tetraacetic acid (EDTA) complex, but not metal-free EDTA, with high sensitivity and specificity. In optimized conditions, the visual limit of detection for qualitative detection of Cu(II) ions was 10 ng/mL and the LOD for semi-quantitative detection decreased to 0.45 ng/mL with the help of a scanning reader system. The detection process was achieved within 10 min with no cross-reactivity from other heavy metal ions. The recovery of the test samples ranged from 98% to 109%. To our knowledge, this antibody-based test strip for Cu(II) ions has not been previously reported. Based on the above results, this strip sensor could be used as an alternative tool for screening heavy metal pollution in the environment.