Fluorescence immunoassay based on phage mimotope for nontoxic detection of Zearalenone in maize

Development of a flow injection chemiluminescence immunoassay based on DES-mediated CuCo2O4 nanoenzyme for ultrasensitive detection of zearalenone in foods

Nanoenzymes have been widely used to construct biosensors because of their cost-effectiveness, high stability, and easy modification. At the same time, the discovery of deep eutectic solvents (DES) was a great breakthrough in green chemistry, and their combination with different materials can improve the sensing performance of biosensors. In this work, we report an immunosensor using CuCo2O4 nanoenzyme combined with flow injection chemiluminescence immunoassay for the automated detection of zearalenone (ZEN). The immunosensor exhibited excellent sensing performance. Under the optimal conditions, the detection range of ZEN was 0.0001-100 ng mL-1, and the limit of detection (LOD) was 0.076 pg mL-1 (S/N = 3). In addition, the immunosensor showed excellent stability with a relative standard deviation (RSD) of 2.65% for  15 repetitive  injections. The method has been successfully applied to the analysis of real samples with satisfactory recovery results, and can hence provide a reference for the detection of small molecules in food and feed.

A sensitive electrochemical aptasensor for zearalenone detection based on target-triggered branched hybridization chain reaction and exonuclease I-assisted recycling

Traditional methods for detecting antibiotic and mycotoxin residues rely on large-scale instruments, which are expensive and require complex sample pretreatment processes and professional operators. Although aptamer-based electrochemical sensors have the advantages of simplicity, speed, low cost, and high sensitivity, most aptamer-based sensors lack a signal amplification strategy due to their direct use of aptamers as probes, resulting in insufficient sensitivity. To solve the sensitivity problem in the electrochemical detection process, a novel electrochemical sensing strategy was established for ultrasensitive zearalenone (ZEN) detection on the basis of exonuclease I (Exo I) and branched hybridization chain reaction (bHCR) to amplify the signal. The amplification strategy showed excellent analytical performance towards ZEN with a low detection limit at 3.1×10-12 mol/L and a wide linear range from 10-11 to 10-6 mol/L. Importantly, the assay was utilized in the corn powder samples with satisfactory results, holding promising applications in food safety detection and environmental monitoring.