1
|
Williams A, Aguilar MR, Pattiya Arachchillage KGG, Chandra S, Rangan S, Ghosal Gupta S, Artes Vivancos JM. Biosensors for Public Health and Environmental Monitoring: The Case for Sustainable Biosensing. ACS SUSTAINABLE CHEMISTRY & ENGINEERING 2024; 12:10296-10312. [PMID: 39027730 PMCID: PMC11253101 DOI: 10.1021/acssuschemeng.3c06112] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/21/2023] [Revised: 05/17/2024] [Accepted: 05/28/2024] [Indexed: 07/20/2024]
Abstract
Climate change is a profound crisis that affects every aspect of life, including public health. Changes in environmental conditions can promote the spread of pathogens and the development of new mutants and strains. Early detection is essential in managing and controlling this spread and improving overall health outcomes. This perspective article introduces basic biosensing concepts and various biosensors, including electrochemical, optical, mass-based, nano biosensors, and single-molecule biosensors, as important sustainability and public health preventive tools. The discussion also includes how the sustainability of a biosensor is crucial to minimizing environmental impacts and ensuring the long-term availability of vital technologies and resources for healthcare, environmental monitoring, and beyond. One promising avenue for pathogen screening could be the electrical detection of biomolecules at the single-molecule level, and some recent developments based on single-molecule bioelectronics using the Scanning Tunneling Microscopy-assisted break junctions (STM-BJ) technique are shown here. Using this technique, biomolecules can be detected with high sensitivity, eliminating the need for amplification and cell culture steps, thereby enhancing speed and efficiency. Furthermore, the STM-BJ technique demonstrates exceptional specificity, accurately detects single-base mismatches, and exhibits a detection limit essentially at the level of individual biomolecules. Finally, a case is made here for sustainable biosensors, how they can help, the paradigm shift needed to achieve them, and some potential applications.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Ajoke Williams
- Department
of Chemistry, University of Massachusetts
Lowell, Lowell, Massachusetts 01854, United States
| | - Mauricio R. Aguilar
- Departament
de Química Inorgànica i Orgànica, Diagonal 645, 08028 Barcelona, Spain
- Institut
de Química Teòrica i Computacional, Universitat de Barcelona, Diagonal 645, 08028 Barcelona, Spain
| | | | - Subrata Chandra
- Department
of Chemistry, University of Massachusetts
Lowell, Lowell, Massachusetts 01854, United States
| | - Srijith Rangan
- Department
of Chemistry, University of Massachusetts
Lowell, Lowell, Massachusetts 01854, United States
| | - Sonakshi Ghosal Gupta
- Department
of Chemistry, University of Massachusetts
Lowell, Lowell, Massachusetts 01854, United States
| | - Juan M. Artes Vivancos
- Department
of Chemistry, University of Massachusetts
Lowell, Lowell, Massachusetts 01854, United States
| |
Collapse
|
2
|
Chandra S, Williams A, Maksudov F, Kliuchnikov E, Pattiya Arachchillage KGG, Piscitelli P, Castillo A, Marx KA, Barsegov V, Artes Vivancos JM. Charge transport in individual short base stacked single-stranded RNA molecules. Sci Rep 2023; 13:19858. [PMID: 37963922 PMCID: PMC10645971 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-023-46263-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/08/2023] [Accepted: 10/30/2023] [Indexed: 11/16/2023] Open
Abstract
Charge transport in biomolecules is crucial for many biological and technological applications, including biomolecular electronics devices and biosensors. RNA has become the focus of research because of its importance in biomedicine, but its charge transport properties are not well understood. Here, we use the Scanning Tunneling Microscopy-assisted molecular break junction method to measure the electrical conductance of particular 5-base and 10-base single-stranded (ss) RNA sequences capable of base stacking. These ssRNA sequences show single-molecule conductance values around [Formula: see text] ([Formula: see text]), while equivalent-length ssDNAs result in featureless conductance histograms. Circular dichroism (CD) spectra and MD simulations reveal the existence of extended ssRNA conformations versus folded ssDNA conformations, consistent with their different electrical behaviors. Computational molecular modeling and Machine Learning-assisted interpretation of CD data helped us to disentangle the structural and electronic factors underlying CT, thus explaining the observed electrical behavior differences. RNA with a measurable conductance corresponds to sequences with overall extended base-stacking stabilized conformations characterized by lower HOMO energy levels delocalized over a base-stacking mediating CT pathway. In contrast, DNA and a control RNA sequence without significant base-stacking tend to form closed structures and thus are incapable of efficient CT.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Subrata Chandra
- Department of Chemistry, University of Massachusetts, Lowell, 01854, USA
| | - Ajoke Williams
- Department of Chemistry, University of Massachusetts, Lowell, 01854, USA
| | - Farkhad Maksudov
- Department of Chemistry, University of Massachusetts, Lowell, 01854, USA
| | | | | | - Patrick Piscitelli
- Department of Chemistry, University of Massachusetts, Lowell, 01854, USA
| | - Aderlyn Castillo
- Department of Chemistry, University of Massachusetts, Lowell, 01854, USA
| | - Kenneth A Marx
- Department of Chemistry, University of Massachusetts, Lowell, 01854, USA
| | - Valeri Barsegov
- Department of Chemistry, University of Massachusetts, Lowell, 01854, USA.
| | | |
Collapse
|
3
|
Gunasinghe Pattiya Arachchillage KG, Chandra S, Williams A, Rangan S, Piscitelli P, Florence L, Ghosal Gupta S, Artes Vivancos JM. A single-molecule RNA electrical biosensor for COVID-19. Biosens Bioelectron 2023; 239:115624. [PMID: 37639885 DOI: 10.1016/j.bios.2023.115624] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/16/2023] [Revised: 08/17/2023] [Accepted: 08/18/2023] [Indexed: 08/31/2023]
Abstract
The COVID-19 pandemic shows a critical need for rapid, inexpensive, and ultrasensitive early detection methods based on biomarker analysis to reduce mortality rates by containing the spread of epidemics. This can be achieved through the electrical detection of nucleic acids at the single-molecule level. In particular, the scanning tunneling microscopic-assisted break junction (STM-BJ) method can be utilized to detect individual nucleic acid molecules with high specificity and sensitivity in liquid samples. Here, we demonstrate single-molecule electrical detection of RNA coronavirus biomarkers, including those of SARS-CoV-2 as well as those of different variants and subvariants. Our target sequences include a conserved sequence in the human coronavirus family, a conserved target specific for the SARS-CoV-2 family, and specific targets at the variant and subvariant levels. Our results demonstrate that it is possible to distinguish between different variants of the COVID-19 virus using electrical conductance signals, as recently suggested by theoretical approaches. Our results pave the way for future miniaturized single-molecule electrical biosensors that could be game changers for infectious diseases and other public health applications.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
| | - Subrata Chandra
- Department of Chemistry, University of Massachusetts Lowell, Lowell, 01854, MA, USA
| | - Ajoke Williams
- Department of Chemistry, University of Massachusetts Lowell, Lowell, 01854, MA, USA
| | - Srijith Rangan
- Department of Chemistry, University of Massachusetts Lowell, Lowell, 01854, MA, USA
| | - Patrick Piscitelli
- Department of Chemistry, University of Massachusetts Lowell, Lowell, 01854, MA, USA
| | - Lily Florence
- Department of Chemistry, University of Massachusetts Lowell, Lowell, 01854, MA, USA
| | | | - Juan M Artes Vivancos
- Department of Chemistry, University of Massachusetts Lowell, Lowell, 01854, MA, USA.
| |
Collapse
|
4
|
Pattiya Arachchillage KGG, Chandra S, Williams A, Piscitelli P, Pham J, Castillo A, Florence L, Rangan S, Artes Vivancos JM. Electrical detection of RNA cancer biomarkers at the single-molecule level. Sci Rep 2023; 13:12428. [PMID: 37528139 PMCID: PMC10393997 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-023-39450-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/10/2023] [Accepted: 07/25/2023] [Indexed: 08/03/2023] Open
Abstract
Cancer is a significant healthcare issue, and early screening methods based on biomarker analysis in liquid biopsies are promising avenues to reduce mortality rates. Electrical detection of nucleic acids at the single molecule level could enable these applications. We examine the electrical detection of RNA cancer biomarkers (KRAS mutants G12C and G12V) as a single-molecule proof-of-concept electrical biosensor for cancer screening applications. We show that the electrical conductance is highly sensitive to the sequence, allowing discrimination of the mutants from a wild-type KRAS sequence differing in just one base. In addition to this high specificity, our results also show that these biosensors are sensitive down to an individual molecule with a high signal-to-noise ratio. These results pave the way for future miniaturized single-molecule electrical biosensors that could be groundbreaking for cancer screening and other applications.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
| | - Subrata Chandra
- Department of Chemistry, University of Massachusetts Lowell, Lowell, MA, 01854, USA
| | - Ajoke Williams
- Department of Chemistry, University of Massachusetts Lowell, Lowell, MA, 01854, USA
| | - Patrick Piscitelli
- Department of Chemistry, University of Massachusetts Lowell, Lowell, MA, 01854, USA
| | - Jennifer Pham
- Department of Chemistry, University of Massachusetts Lowell, Lowell, MA, 01854, USA
| | - Aderlyn Castillo
- Department of Chemistry, University of Massachusetts Lowell, Lowell, MA, 01854, USA
| | - Lily Florence
- Department of Chemistry, University of Massachusetts Lowell, Lowell, MA, 01854, USA
| | - Srijith Rangan
- Department of Chemistry, University of Massachusetts Lowell, Lowell, MA, 01854, USA
| | - Juan M Artes Vivancos
- Department of Chemistry, University of Massachusetts Lowell, Lowell, MA, 01854, USA.
| |
Collapse
|
5
|
He L, Xie Z, Long X, Zhang C, Ma K, She L. Potential differentiation of successive SARS-CoV-2 mutations by RNA: DNA hybrid analyses. Biophys Chem 2023; 297:107013. [PMID: 37030215 PMCID: PMC10065053 DOI: 10.1016/j.bpc.2023.107013] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/08/2023] [Revised: 03/18/2023] [Accepted: 03/28/2023] [Indexed: 04/03/2023]
Abstract
The constant mutation of SARS-CoV-2 has triggered a new round of public health crises and has had a huge impact on existing vaccines and diagnostic tools. It is essential to develop a new flexible method to distinguish mutations to prevent the spread of the virus. In this work, we used the combination of density functional theory (DFT) and non-equilibrium Green's function formulation with decoherence, to theoretically study the effect of viral mutation on charge transport properties of viral nucleic acid molecules. We found that all mutation of SARS-CoV-2 on spike protein was accompanied by the change of gene sequence conductance, this is attributed to the change of nucleic acid molecular energy level caused by mutation. Among them, the mutations L18F, P26S, and T1027I caused the largest conductance change after mutation. This provides a theoretical possibility for detecting virus mutation based on the change of molecular conductance of virus nucleic acid.
Collapse
|
6
|
Lv SL, Zeng C, Yu Z, Zheng JF, Wang YH, Shao Y, Zhou XS. Recent Advances in Single-Molecule Sensors Based on STM Break Junction Measurements. BIOSENSORS 2022; 12:bios12080565. [PMID: 35892462 PMCID: PMC9329744 DOI: 10.3390/bios12080565] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/26/2022] [Revised: 07/20/2022] [Accepted: 07/22/2022] [Indexed: 12/04/2022]
Abstract
Single-molecule recognition and detection with the highest resolution measurement has been one of the ultimate goals in science and engineering. Break junction techniques, originally developed to measure single-molecule conductance, recently have also been proven to have the capacity for the label-free exploration of single-molecule physics and chemistry, which paves a new way for single-molecule detection with high temporal resolution. In this review, we outline the primary advances and potential of the STM break junction technique for qualitative identification and quantitative detection at a single-molecule level. The principles of operation of these single-molecule electrical sensing mainly in three regimes, ion, environmental pH and genetic material detection, are summarized. It clearly proves that the single-molecule electrical measurements with break junction techniques show a promising perspective for designing a simple, label-free and nondestructive electrical sensor with ultrahigh sensitivity and excellent selectivity.
Collapse
|