Electrochemical Cloth-Based DNA Sensors (ECDSs): A New Class of Electrochemical Gene Sensors

Abstract

Electrochemical (EC) sensors have been widely developed for DNA detection, but they are seldom used in a simple, economic, and efficient manner. In this work, for the first time, EC cloth-based DNA sensors (ECDSs) are developed as a new class of EC DNA sensors, without the need for cumbersome chip fabrication and high-cost peripheral facilities. Carbon ink- and solid wax-based screen printing were used to produce ultracheap sensing devices (the cost of one sensor is estimated to be $0.045). Also, a CdTe QDs/MWCNTs nanocomposite (CdTe-MWCNTs) was applied to modify the sensing interface to obtain a stronger EC signal. Specifically, the newly developed double linear hybridization chain reaction (DL-HCR) greatly amplified the EC signal, relative to the conventional linear HCR. Under optimized conditions, target DNA (TD) samples (75-bp DNA fragments prepared via PCR amplification) were determined in a range from 20 fM to 5 nM, with a detection limit of 8.74 fM and relative standard deviations of 2.04% and 4.75% for intra- and inter-assays at 50 pM TD, respectively. Additionally, the ECDSs had an acceptable storage stability and high selectivity. Importantly, the ECDSs, coupled with simple enzyme digestion, could detect genomic DNA from Listeria monocytogenes (L. monocytogenes), and a detection limit of 0.039 ng/μL was obtained. When coupled with enzyme digestion and PCR amplification, the ECDSs could determine L. monocytogenes in milk samples, with detection limits of approximately 1.64 × 104 and 11 CFU/mL. These results demonstrate that the method offers a broad prospect for cost-effective, reliable, and highly sensitive gene-sensing applications.

Nucleic acid isothermal amplification-based soft nanoarchitectonics as an emerging electrochemical biosensing platform

“…33 In addition, DNA tool enzyme (Nicking endonuclease and polymerase) assisted cascade amplification 34 and CRISPR processing technology 35 could also be combined in the HCR amplification method for dual signal amplified genetic analysis. Besides the solid electrode, using carbon ink screen printing technology, the architecture for DNA strand displacement amplification could also be constructed on microfluidic cloth-based 36 or paper-based analytical devices 37 for point-of-care (POC) diagnosis in resource-limited settings, avoiding the cumbersome chip fabrication and high-cost peripheral facilities.…”

Progress of Wearable and Flexible Electrochemical Biosensors With the Aid of Conductive Nanomaterials

“…Very recently, for the first time, Jiang and his team proposed a cloth-based DNA biosensor by using nanocomposite (CdTe-MWCNTs) to get a stronger electrochemical signal. Under ideal conditions, target DNA samples (75-bp DNA fragments produced by PCR amplification) were determined in a range of 20 fM to 5 nM, with a detection limit of 8.74 fM and relative standard deviations of 2.04 and 4.75 percent for intra- and inter-assays at 50 pM TD, respectively ( Jiang et al, 2020 ).…”

In Situ Assembly of Nanomaterials and Molecules for the Signal Enhancement of Electrochemical Biosensors

“…Moreover, two-input AND and INHIBIT (INH) molecular logic gates were fabricated to analyze miRNAs. As one enzyme-free isothermal alternative, HCR avoids the restriction of precise dependence of pH and temperature in enzyme-mediated methods and has been used to detect miRNA and others [40,41]. For example, Yuan et al developed an electrochemical biosensor for the simultaneous detection of multiple miRNAs, in which the DNA-modified magnetic nanoprobes loaded with two different electroactive molecules were bound with the products of HCR [42].…”