A simple smartphone-assisted paper-based colorimetric biosensor for the detection of urea adulteration in milk based on an environment-friendly pH-sensitive nanocomposite

Urea is a common milk adulterant that falsely increases its protein content. Excessive consumption of urea is harmful to the kidney, liver, and gastrointestinal system. The conventional methods for urea detection in milk are time-consuming, costly, and require highly skilled operators. So, there is an increasing demand for the development of rapid, convenient, and cost-efficient methods for the detection of urea adulteration in milk. Herein, we report a novel colorimetric paper-based urea biosensor, consisting of a novel environment-friendly nanocomposite of halloysite nanotubes (HNT), that urease enzyme and an anthocyanin-rich extract, as a natural pH indicator are simultaneously immobilized into its internal and external surfaces. The biosensing mechanism of this biosensor is based on anthocyanin color change, which occurs due to urease-mediated hydrolysis of urea and pH increment of the environment. The colorimetric signal of this biosensor is measured through smartphone-assisted analysis of the mean RGB (Red-Green-Blue) intensity of samples and is capable of detecting urea with a detection limit of 0.2 mM, and a linear range from 0.5 to 100 mM. This biosensor has demonstrated promising results for the detection of urea in milk samples, in the presence of other milk adulterants and interferents.

Paper-based colorimetric detection of COVID-19 using aptasenor based on biomimetic peroxidase like activity of ChF/ZnO/CNT nano-hybrid

Corona Virus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) as the infectious disease caused the pandemic disease around the world through infection by SARS-CoV-2 virus. The common diagnosis approach is Quantitative RT-PCR (qRT-PCR) which is time consuming and labor intensive. In the present study a novel colorimetric aptasensor was developed based on intrinsic catalytic activity of chitosan film embedded with ZnO/CNT (ChF/ZnO/CNT) on 3,3',5,5'-tetramethylbenzidine (TMB) substrate. The main nanocomposite platform was constructed and functionalized with specific COVID-19 aptamer. The construction subjected with TMB substrate and H₂O₂ in the presence of different concentration of COVID-19 virus. Separation of aptamer after binding with virus particles declined the nanozyme activity. Upon addition of virus concentration, the peroxidase like activity of developed platform and colorimetric signals of oxidized TMB decreased gradually. Under optimal conditions the nanozyme could detect the virus in the linear range of 1-500 pg mL and LOD of 0.05 pg mL. Also, a paper-based platform was used for set up the strategy on applicable device. The paper-based strategy showed a linear range between 50 and 500 pg mL with LOD of 8 pg mL. The applied paper based colorimetric strategy showed reliable results for sensitive and selective detection of COVID-19 virus with the cost-effective approach.

A robust electrochemical sensing platform for the detection of erlotinib based on nitrogen-doped graphene quantum dots/copper nanoparticles-polyaniline-graphene oxide nanohybrid

Erlotinib is a potent and highly specific tyrosine kinase inhibitor with the hindering effects on the growth of cancer cells. An electrochemical sensor with the great sensitivity and selectivity was fabricated for determining erlotinib by using a graphite rod electrode modified by the nitrogen-doped graphene quantum dots (N-GQDs) and a ternary nanohybrid comprising copper nanoparticles, polyaniline, along with graphene oxide (N-GQDs/CuNPs-PANI@GO) for the first time. The establishment of PANI and CuNPs was done simultaneously on the GO surface by thein situoxidative polymerization method. The morphological characteristics and elemental structure of the synthesized nanoparticles were examined by some microscopy techniques and x-ray energy/diffraction methods. The fabricated sensor represented the electrocatalytic activity towards erlotinib with a linear detection range from 1.0 nM to 35.0μM, a detection limit of 0.712 nM, and a sensitivity of 1.3604μAμM^-1. Moreover, the N-GQDs/CuNPs-PANI@GO sensor showed acceptable stability up to 30 d (94.82%), reproducibility (RSD values of 3.19% intraday and 3.52% interday), and repeatability (RSD value of 3.65%) as a novel and powerful electrochemical sensor. It was successfully applied to monitor erlotinib in the drug-injected aqueous solution, serum, and urine samples that proved the capability of the sensor for the erlotinib monitoring in the biological samples.

Fabrication of Graphene-Based TiO2@CeO2 and CeO2@TiO2 Core-Shell Heterostructures for Enhanced Photocatalytic Activity and Cytotoxicity

Development of light-harvesting properties and inhibition of photogenerated charge carrier recombination are of paramount significance in the photocatalytic process. In the present work, we described the synthesis of core-shell heterostructures, which are composed of titanium oxide (TiO₂) and cerium oxide (CeO₂) deposited on a reduced graphene oxide (rGO) surface as a conductive substrate. Following the synthesis of ternary rGO-CeO₂@TiO₂ and rGO-TiO₂@CeO₂ nanostructures, their photocatalytic activity was investigated toward the degradation of rhodamine B dye as an organic pollutant under UV light irradiation. The obtained structures were characterized with high-resolution transmission electron microscopy, field-emission scanning electron microscopy, energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, Brunauer-Emmett-Teller, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy surface analysis, and UV-Vis spectroscopy. Various parameters including pH, catalyst dosage, temperature, and contact time were studied for photocatalysis optimization. Heterostructures showed considerable advantages because of their high surface area and superior photocatalytic performance. In contrast, rGO-CeO₂@TiO₂ showed the highest photocatalytic activity, which is attributed to the more effective electron-hole separation and quick suppression of charge recombination at core-shell phases. A biological assay of the prepared heterostructure was performed to determine the cytotoxicity against breast cancer cells (MCF-7) and demonstrated a very low survival rate at 7.65% of cells at the 17.5 mg mL^-1 concentration of applied photocatalyst.

Fluorometric detection of phytase enzyme activity and phosphate ion based on gelatin supported silver nanoclusters

Phytase is the commercial enzyme for bioconversion of phytate substrate to digestible phosphate ions. Recently silver nanoclusters (AgNCs) have received great attention as the optical transducer nanoparticles in biosensors structure. The novel detection platform was developed to detect the phytase enzyme activity and phosphate ions based on fluorescence quenching of AgNCs. The AgNCs were synthesized through gelatin supported reaction and characterized by TEM, FTIR and XRD analysis. The hydrolytic effect of phytase enzyme and subsequent phosphate release led to suppression of AgNCs fluorescence. The linear range was observed for enzyme in the range of 0.5-5 U/mL with the detection limit of 0.2 U/mL. Also, the same fluorescence quenching effect was observed in the presence of phosphate ion in the linear range of 1 to 16 µM with a detection limit of 0.5 µM. The proposed mechanism showed effectiveness of detection strategy for detection of phytase enzyme and phosphate ion.

Photocatalytic activity of green synthesized cadmium sulfide quantum dots on the removal of RhB dye and its cytotoxicity and antibacterial studies

Presence of inorganic pollutants in water reservoirs is the treating factor for human health and environment. Semiconductor quantum dots (QDs) has been regarded as one of the most efficient nanoparticles for their enhanced photocatalytic activity. Medicinal plants are the safe sources to provide green template for biosynthesis of inorganic nanoparticles such as quantum dots. In order to determine the photocatalytic and biological application of cadmium sulfide quantum dots (CdS QDs), a biosynthesis approach was employed using saffron (Crocus sativus L.) stigma extract as the green reaction substrate. The biosynthesis process was evaluated at different pH condition to obtain the most efficient CdS QDs. Characterization of prepared CdS QDs were determined through UV-vis and fluorescence spectroscopy, FTIR and TEM analysis. The obtained results showed well dsispersed and uniform QDs during green synthesis at the optimum condition. The absorption and electrical properties of green synthesized CdS QDs showed the lowest energy bandgap of 2.4 at pH 11. Photocatalytic activity of CdS QDs on Rhodamine B degradation showed 92% degradation after 80 min under UV light irradiation. The antibacterial and cell cytotoxicity of green synthesized CdS QDs were assayed by disk diffusion and MTT assays respectively. Obtained results showed significant antibacterial effect of CdS QDs against gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria includingB. subtilis(90%) andE. coli(96%) respectively. Moreover, cytotoxicity of prepared CdS Qds through MTT assay indicated 79% apoptosis induction on MCF-7 breast cancer cells.

A novel colorimetric biosensor for sensitive detection of aflatoxin mediated by bacterial enzymatic reaction in saffron samples

Aflatoxin is regarded as the potent carcinogenic agent which is secreted from fungi and present in some food products. So far, many detection methods have been developed to determine the trace amounts of aflatoxin in foods. In the present study a colorimetric competitive assay for detection of aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) has been developed based on interaction of gelatin functionalized gold nanoparticles (AuNPs@gelatin) in specific enzymatic reaction. Bacterial supernatant containing gelatinase enzyme were used as the substrate that could digest the coated gelatin on the surface of AuNPs and following in the presence of NaCl medium ingredient resulted to color change of AuNPs colloidal solution from red to purple. It was observed that with addition of aflatoxin to the bacterial supernatant, aflatoxin could interfere in aggregation of AuNPs and inhibited the process which subsequently prevent the expected color change induced by AuNPs aggregation. The supernatant containing AuNPs were investigated to analyze their induced surface plasmon resonance spectra through UV-visible spectroscopy. The absorption values were directly proportional with the applied AFB1 concentration. The experiment conditions including incubation time, AuNPs concentration and pH were investigated. The obtained results showed that through this approach we could detect the AFB1 in a linear range from 10 to 140 pg ml^-1, with detection limit of 4 pg ml^-1. Real sample assay in saffron samples showed recoveries percentage of 92.4%-95.3%. The applied approach proposed simple, cost effective and specific method for detection of AFB1 toxin in food samples.

Fluorimetric detection of methylated DNA of Sept9 promoter by silver nanoclusters at intrastrand 6C-loop

Methylation of DNA at carbon 5 of cytosines is the most common epigenetic modification of human genome. Due to its critical role in many normal cell processes such as growth and development, any aberrant methylation pattern in a particular locus may lead to abnormal functions and diseases such as cancer. Development of methods to detect methylation state of DNA which may eliminate labor-intensive chemical or enzymatic treatments has received considerable attention in recent years. Herein, we report a DNA methylation detection procedure based on fluorescence turn-on strategy. Target sequence was selected from Sept9 promoter region that has been reported as one of the most frequently methylated sites in colorectal cancer. Probe DNA was designed to be complementary to this sequence with an additional six cytosines in the middle to form an internal loop to host silver nanoclusters. The fluorescence intensity of the synthesized silver nanoclusters with the duplexes of probe-non-methylated target was significantly different from that of probe-methylated target. The fluorescence enhanced with increasing the methylated DNA concentration with a linear relation in the range of 1.0 × 10^-8 M to 5.0 × 10^-7 M with the detection limit of 8.2 × 10^-9 M, and quenched with non-methylated ones. The method was very specific in the presence of non-complementary sequences with maximum similarity of 40%. Circular dichroism spectra indicated that silver ions significantly affected the structure of methylated and non-methylated DNA into different extents which could further influence the nanocluster fluorescence. Finally, a method was introduced to meet the concerns in the applicability of the proposed method in real situation.

A signal-on fluorescence based biosensing platform for highly sensitive detection of DNA methyltransferase enzyme activity and inhibition

DNA methylation mediated by DNA methyltransferase (MTase) enzyme is internal cell mechanism which regulate the expression or suppression of crucial genes involve in cancer early diagnosis. Herein, highly sensitive fluorescence biosensing platform was developed for monitoring of DNA Dam MTase enzyme activity and inhibition based on fluorescence signal on mechanism. The specific Au NP functionalized oligonucleotide probe with overhang end as a template for the synthesis of fluorescent silver nanoclusters (Ag NCs) was designed to provide the FRET occurrence. Following, methylation and cleavage processes by Dam MTAse and DpnI enzymes respectively at specific probe recognition site could resulted to release of AgNCs synthesizer DNA fragment and returned the platform to fluorescence signal-on state through interrupting in FRET. Subsequently, amplified fluorescence emission signals of Ag NCs showed increasing linear relationship with amount of Dam MTase enzyme at the range of 0.1-20 U/mL and the detection limit was estimated at 0.05 U/mL. Superior selectivity of experiment was illustrated among other tested MTase and restriction enzymes due to the specific recognition of MTase toward its substrate. Furthermore, the inhibition effect of applied Dam MTase drug inhibitors screened and evaluated with satisfactory results which would be helpful for discovery of antimicrobial drugs. The real sample assay also showed the applicability of proposed method in human serum condition. This novel strategy presented an efficient and cost effective platform for sensitive monitoring of DNA MTase activity and inhibition which illustrated its great potential for further application in medical diagnosis and drug discovery.

Paper based colorimetric detection of miRNA-21 using Ag/Pt nanoclusters

Abnormal expression of MicroRNA-21 (miRNA-21) is considered to be a reliable biomarker for the early diagnosis of cancer. In this work, a novel paper based biosensor was fabricated to detect sub-micro molar concentrations of miRNA-21 based on peroxidase mimetic activity of DNA-templated Ag/Pt nanoclusters (DNA-Ag/Pt NCs), which could catalyze the reaction of hydrogen peroxide and 3,3',5,5' tetramethylbenzidine (TMB), to produce a blue color. The Mechanism of reaction was based on the inhibition effect of miRNA-21 on peroxidase-like activity of nanosensor which resulted to quantitative determination of miRNA-21 concentration. It was found that miRNA-21 could be linearly detected in the range from 1-700 pM (A₆₅₂ = 0.16x-0.96, R² = 0.99; x = -log [miRNA-21]) with a detection limit of 0.6 pM. Moreover, a paper assay was carried out on a Y-shaped paper-based microfluidic device in order to use the distinctive features of micro-channels such as short response time, very low reagent volume, low fabrication cost, etc. After performing paper based assay, a good linear range was observed between 10-1000 pM (y = 0.06x+147.48, R² = 0.99; x = [miRNA-21]) with detection limit of 4.1 pM. The practical application of proposed method for detection of miRNA-21 in real sample was assayed in the human urine sample and indicated the colorimetric method had acceptable accuracy.

Density Functional Theory Study of Antioxidant Adsorption onto Single- Wall Boron Nitride Nanotubes: Design of New Antioxidant Delivery Systems

Background:

Boron Nitride Nanotubes (BNNTs) have recently emerged as an interesting field of study, because they could be used for the realization of developed, integrated and compact nanostructures to be formulated. BNNTs with similar surface morphology, alternating B and N atoms completely substitute for C atoms in a graphitic-like sheet with nearly no alterations in atomic spacing, with uniformity in dispersion in the solution, and readily applicable in biomedical applications with no obvious toxicity. Also demonstrating a good cell interaction and cell targeting.

Aim and Objective:

With a purpose of increasing the field of BNNT for drug delivery, a theoretical investigation of the interaction of Melatonin, Vitamin C, Glutathione and lipoic acid antioxidants using (9, 0) zigzag BNNTs is shown using density functional theory.

Methods:

The geometries corresponding to Melatonin, Vitamin C, Glutathione and lipoic acid and BNNT with different lengths were individually optimized with the DMOL3 program at the LDA/ DNP (fine) level of theory.

Results:

In the presence of external electric field Melatonin, Vitamin C, Glutathione and lipoic acid could be absorbed considerably on BNNT with lengths 22 and 29 Å, as the adsorption energy values in the presence of external electric field are considerably increased.

Conclusion:

The external electric field is an appropriate technique for adsorbing and storing antioxidants on BNNTs. Moreover, it is believed that applying the external electric field may be a proper method for controlling release rate of drugs.

DNA-Templated Silver Nanoclusters for DNA Methylation Detection

DNA methylation entails the covalent addition of a methyl group to C-5 position of cytosine by a family of DNA methyltransferase enzymes and has a significant role in gene regulation. Epigenetic changes such as DNA methylation of CpG islands located in the promoter region of some tumor suppressor genes are very common in human diseases such as cancer. Detection of aberrant methylation pattern could serve as an excellent diagnostic approach. It is key to develop methods for the direct and simple detection of methylated DNA or of methyltransferase activity without using antibodies, chemical modification, labeling and enzymatic treatments. In this study, we employ DNA-templated silver nanoclusters for detection of DNA methylation. This method entails use of cytosine rich DNA sequence as an effective template. By monitoring changes in fluorescence intensity, DNA methylation and DNA methyltransferase activity is detected. Upon DNA methylation, the fluorescence intensity of DNA templated Ag/NCs is decreased in a linear range when the concentration of methylated DNA is increased.

Sensitive detection of methylated DNA and methyltransferase activity based on the lighting up of FAM-labeled DNA quenched fluorescence by gold nanoparticles

DNA methylation of cytosine bases, which is catalyzed by methyltransferase enzymes, involve biochemical processes that contribute to gene expression and gene regulation in cells. Detection of abnormal patterns of both methylated DNA and methyltransferase enzyme activity at early stages could be considered as promising targets for early cancer diagnosis. In the present study, a novel and facile method is introduced for the sensitive detection of the M.SssI methyltransferase (M.SssI MTase) enzyme and methylated DNA based on the fluorescence recovery of FAM-labeled DNA coupled with gold nanoparticles (AuNPs). Thiol-modified probes were functionalized with AuNPs, which brought the FAM fluorophore into the close proximity of the AuNPs. This led to the overlap between the FAM fluorescence emission and AuNPs absorption spectra, introducing a FRET occurrence and causing fluorescence quenching. The hybridization of the probe and its complementary target provided specific CpG sites for M.SssI MTase enzyme activity. The methylation process gradually converted the quenched FAM fluorophore into an emissive fluorophore upon the addition of the MTase enzyme, and the observed fluorescence recovery proved the efficiency of the assay for the detection of MTase enzyme. The fluorescence intensity showed an increasing trend with M.SssI MTase enzyme activity in the range of 1–8 U mL⁻¹ with a detection limit of 0.14 U mL⁻¹. The addition of methylated ssDNA targets to a ssDNA FAM-labeled probe resulted in a DNA duplex formation, leading to a strong fluorescence signal emission due to the recovery of the fluorophore signal. Conversely, the unmethylated ssDNA target caused no changes in the fluorescence signal. In the presence of methylated DNA targets, the biosensor could specifically recognize it and accordingly trigger the methylated targets through a fluorescence enhancement in the range of 5–100 pM by monitoring the increase in the fluorescence intensity with a detection limit of 2.2 pM. The obtained results showed that the assay could realize the detection of M.SssI MTase and methylated DNA effectively in diluted human serum samples. Human serum conditions showed no significant interference with the assay performance, indicating that the present method has great potential for further application in real samples.

A novel method for detection of DNA methylation based on fluorescence recovery of FAM labeled DNA/Au NPs was introduced.

Study on the Interaction of the CpG Alternating DNA with CdTe Quantum Dots

A novel sensitive method for detection of DNA methylation was developed with thioglycollic acid (TGA)-capped CdTe quantum dots (QDs) as fluorescence probes. Recognition of methylated DNA sites would be useful strategy due to the important roles of methylation in disease occurrence and developmental processes. DNA methylation occurs most often at cytosine-guanine sites (CpG dinucleotides) of gene promoters. The QDs significantly interacted with hybridized unmethylated and methylated DNA. The interaction of CpG rich methylated and unmethylated DNA hybrid with quantum dots as an optical probe has been investigated by fluorescence spectroscopy and electrophoresis assay. The fluorescence intensity of QDs was highly dependent to unmethylated and methylated DNA. Specific site of CpG islands of Adenomatous polyposis coli (APC), a well-studied tumor suppressor gene, was used as the detection target. Under optimum conditions, upon the addition of unmethylated dsDNA, the fluorescence intensity increased in linear range from 1.0 × 10^- 10 to 1.0 × 10^- 6M with detection limit of 6.2 × 10^- 11 M and on the other hand, the intensity of QDs showed no changes with addition of methylated dsDNA. We also demonstrated that the unmethylated and methylated DNA and QDs complexes showed different mobility in electrophoresis assay. This easy and reliable method could distinguish between methylated and unmethylated DNA sequences.

FRET-based aptamer biosensor for selective and sensitive detection of aflatoxin B1 in peanut and rice

Aflatoxins are potential food pollutants produced by fungi. Among them, Aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) is the most toxic. Therefore, a great deal of concern is associated with AFB1 toxicity. In this work, utilizing a FRET-based method, we have developed a nanobiosensor for detection of AFB1 in agricultural foods. Aptamer-conjugated Quantum dots (QDs) are adsorbed to Au nanoparticles (AuNPs) due to interaction of aptamers with AuNPs leading to quenching effect on QDs fluorescence. Upon the addition of AFB1, the specific aptamers are attracted to AFB1, getting distance from AuNPs which result in fluorescence recovery. Under optimized conditions the detection limit of proposed nanobiosensor was 3.4nM with linear range of 10-400nM. Selectivity test demonstrates that the nanobiosensor could be a promising tool for specific evaluation of food stuff. This method was successfully applied for the analysis of AFB1 in rice and peanut samples.

Spectroscopic Study of CpG Alternating DNA-Methylene Blue Interaction for Methylation Detection

Recognition of methylated DNA sites would be useful strategy due to the important roles of methylation in disease occurrence and developmental processes. The interaction of CpG rich methylated and unmethylated DNA hybrid with methylene blue (MB) as an optical probe has been investigated by absorption, emission, circular dichorism and fluorescence anisotropy analysis. Titration of MB with both sequences caused a hypsochromism and decreased the absorption of MB that indicating an intercalative mode of interaction. The experimental results revealed that MB as the optical indicator could distinguish between the methylated and unmethylated DNA sequences. Under optimum conditions, upon the addition of methylated dsDNA, the fluorescence intensity increased in linear range from 1.0 × 10(-9) to 1.0 × 10(-6) M with detection limit of 7.2 × 10(-10) M and on the other hand, the intensity of MB showed no change with addition of unmethylated dsDNA.

Visual detection of cancer cells by colorimetric aptasensor based on aggregation of gold nanoparticles induced by DNA hybridization

A simple but highly sensitive colorimetric method was developed to detect cancer cells based on aptamer-cell interaction. Cancer cells were able to capture nucleolin aptamers (AS 1411) through affinity interaction between AS 1411 and nucleolin receptors that are over expressed in cancer cells, The specific binding of AS 1411 to the target cells triggered the removal of aptamers from the solution. Therefore no aptamer remained in the solution to hybridize with complementary ssDNA-AuNP probes as a result the solution color is red. In the absence of target cells or the presence of normal cells, ssDNA-AuNP probes and aptamers were coexisted in solution and the aptamers assembled DNA-AuNPs, produced a purple solution. UV-vis spectrometry demonstrated that this hybridization-based method exhibited selective colorimetric responses to the presence or absence of target cells, which is detectable with naked eye. The linear response for MCF-7 cells in a concentration range from 10 to 10(5) cells was obtained with a detection limit of 10 cells. The proposed method could be extended to detect other cells and showed potential applications in cancer cell detection and early cancer diagnosis.

Aptamer-based Colorimetric and Chemiluminescence Detection of Aflatoxin B1 in Foods Samples

We developed a new biosensor for the detection of aflatoxin B1(AFB1) based on the interaction of gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) with the aptamer. Aggregation of AuNPs was induced by desorption of the AFB1 binding aptamer from the surface of AuNPs as a result of the aptamer target interaction leading to the color change of AuNPs from red to purple. The linear range of the colorimetric aptasensor covered a large variation of AFB1 concentrations from 80 to 270 nM and the detection limit of 7 nM was obtained. Also, the catalytic activity of the aggregated AuNPs greatly enhanced the chemiluminescence (CL) reaction, where the detection limit was determined at 0.5 nM with a regression coefficient of R(2) = 0.9921. We have also shown that the sensitivity of detection was increased by employing CL and using the catalytic activity of aggregated AuNPs, during luminol-hydrogen peroxide reaction. Therefore the proposed nanobiosensor was demonstrated to be sensitive, selective, and simple, introducing a viable alternative for rapid screening of toxin in foods.

Label free colorimetric and fluorimetric direct detection of methylated DNA based on silver nanoclusters for cancer early diagnosis

Epigenetic changes such as DNA methylation of CpG islands located in the promoter region of some tumor suppressor genes are very common in human diseases such as cancer. Detection of aberrant methylation pattern could serve as an excellent diagnostic approach. Recently, the direct detection of methylated DNA sequences without using chemical and enzymatic treatments or antibodies has received great deal of attentions. In this study, we report a colorimetric and fluorimetric technique for direct detection of DNA methylation. Here, the DNA is being used as an effective template for fluorescent silver nanoclusters formation without any chemical modification or DNA labeling. The sensitivity test showed that upon the addition of target methylated DNA, the fluorescence intensity is decreased in a linear range when the concentration of methylated DNA has increased from 2.0×10(-9) to 6.3 ×10(-7) M with the detection limit of 9.4×10(-10) M. The optical and fluorescence spectral behaviors were highly reproducible and clearly discriminated between unmethylated, methylated and even partially methylated DNA in CpG rich sequences. The results were also reproducible when the human plasma was present in our assay system.

A Novel Label-Free microRNA-155 Detection on the Basis of Fluorescent Silver Nanoclusters

In this paper, a new approach for microRNA-155 (miRNA-155) detection was described based on the fluorescence quenching of oligonucleotide-templated silver nanoclusters (DNA-AgNCs). The specific DNA scaffold with two different nucleotides fragments were used: one was enriched with a cytosine sequence fragment (C12) that could result in DNA-AgNCs with a high quantum yield via a chemical reduction method, and the other was the probe fragment (5- CUGUUAAUGCUAAUCGUG-3) which could selectively bind to the miRNA-155. Thus, the as-prepared AgNCs could exhibit quenched fluorescence when binding to the target miRNA-155. The fluorescence ratio of the DNA-AgNCs was quenched in a linearly proportional manner to the concentration of the target in the range of 0.2 nM to 30 nM with a detection limit of 0.1 nM.

Selective recognition of Glutamate based on fluorescence enhancement of graphene quantum dot

Graphene quantum dots (GQDs) have successfully been utilized as an efficient nano-sized fluorescence chemosensor to detect selectively Glutamate (Glu) in Tris-HCl buffer solution (pH=9). The fluorescence emission spectrum of graphene quantum dots was at about 430nm. The study showed that fluorescence intensity of the quantum dot gradually enhanced with increase in concentration of Glutamate and any change in fluorescence intensity was directly proportional to the concentration of Glutamate. Under optimum conditions, the linear range for the detection of Glutamate was 1.6×10(-7)M to 1.0×10(-5)M with a detection limit of 5.2×10(-8)M. The sensor showed high selectivity toward Glutamate in comparison with other amino acids.