Phenylalanine Monitoring via Aptamer-Field-Effect Transistor Sensors

Abstract

Determination of the amino acid phenylalanine is important for lifelong disease management in patients with phenylketonuria, a genetic disorder in which phenylalanine accumulates and persists at levels that alter brain development and cause permanent neurological damage and cognitive dysfunction. Recent approaches for treating phenylketonuria focus on injectable medications that efficiently break down phenylalanine but sometimes result in detrimentally low phenylalanine levels. We have identified new DNA aptamers for phenylalanine in two formats, initially as fluorescent sensors and then, incorporated with field-effect transistors (FETs). Aptamer-FET sensors detected phenylalanine over a wide range of concentrations (fM-mM). para-*

Flexible Multiplexed In2O3 Nanoribbon Aptamer-Field-Effect Transistors for Biosensing

“…Although baseline sensor responses changed after tissue exposure, calibrated responses, which correct for baseline drift, were stable and sensitive over a large range of serotonin concentrations even after 12 h of brain tissue exposure. Moreover, we have used glucose- and phenylalanine-aptamer FETs to sense their respective targets at physiological concentrations in serum diluted with Ringer's buffer, which mimics the ionic composition of plasma ( Nakatsuka et al, 2018b ; Cheung, et al., 2019 ).…”

“…We have developed aptamer-field-effect transistor (FET) biosensors that detect small molecules, including serotonin, dopamine, glucose, and phenylalanine under high-ionic strength conditions ( Nakatsuka et al, 2018b ; Cheung et al., 2019 ). Aptamers are rare, single-stranded nucleic acid sequences isolated from oligonucleotide combinatorial libraries that recognize specific targets ( Hamaguchi et al., 2001 ; Willner et al., 2007 ; Nakatsuka et al., 2018a ).…”

“…Similar to Si devices, which can be fabricated with high scalability and uniformity, metal-oxide thin-film transistors have been widely used in industry, e.g., touch screens, displays, solar cells, owing to their electronic performance and large-area uniformity. The main advantages of metal oxides over silicon in wearable sensor applications are the ease of fabrication and compatibility with flexible substrates ( Kim, et al., 2015 ; Rim, et al., 2015 ; Liu et al., 2018a ; Nakatsuka et al, 2018b ; Zhao et al., 2018 ; Cheung, et al., 2019 ).…”

Capture of Phenylalanine and Phenylalanine-Terminated Peptides Using a Supramolecular Macrocycle for Surface-Enhanced Raman Scattering Detection

“…Further studies have explored aptamer-based techniques for Phe capture, but these rely on expensive surface ligands and do not provide a characteristic molecular spectrum. 4,5 Also these aptamer-based detection methods lack versatility, as they only detect Phe and have not been shown to detect larger peptides through their Phe-residues.…”

An all-solid-state heterojunction oxide transistor for the rapid detection of biomolecules and SARS-CoV-2 spike S1 protein

“…This is not the case for most biosensor transistors reported to date where the channel interacts directly with the receptor units and hence the analyte. To overcome this, liquid gating has been exploited for analyte detection in the liquid phase 6,22,33 . Secondly, the high electron mobility of the HJ TFTs offers the possibility for large electrical signals that are easy to detect and amplify even in large-size devices 31 .…”