Scanometric
detection of tomato leaf curl New Delhi viral DNA using
AuNP-conjugated mono- and bifunctional oligo probes through direct
DNA hybridization assay (DDH assay) and sandwich DNA hybridization
assay (SDH assay) with silver enhancement was developed. Tomato leaf
curl New Delhi virus (ToLCNDV) coat protein gene-specific thiol-modified
ssoligo probes were used for the preparation of mono- and bifunctional
AuNP-ssoligo probe conjugates (signal probes). ssDNA arrays were prepared
using polymerase chain reaction (PCR), rolling circle amplification
(RCA), genomic DNAs fragments, and phosphate-modified positive control/capture
probes through 1-ethyl-3-(3-dimethylaminopropyl)-carbodiimide/1-methylimidazole
conjugation on the amine-modified glass slide (GS) surface. In the
DDH assay, signal probes were directly hybridized with ssDNA array
of positive control and ToLCNDV DNA samples and the detection signals
were amplified by silver enhancement. Dark black/gray colors were
developed on the GS by the result of Ag enhancement, which can be
visualized and discriminated by the naked eye. The images were captured
using a simple flatbed scanner, and the determined amounts of signal
probes were hybridized with their target DNA. Similarly, the SDH assay
also performed through two rounds of hybridization between capture
probes and target DNA; target DNA and signal probes followed by silver
enhancement. The detection signals were found higher in the PCR sample
than the RCA and genomic DNA samples because of the presence of increased
copy numbers of complementary DNAs in PCR samples. Further, bifunctional
AuNP-ssoligo probe shows higher intensity of detection signal than
monofunctional probes because it can be hybridized with both strands
of dsDNA targets. Moreover, the DDH-based scanometric method showed
higher detection sensitivity than the SDH assay-based scanometric
method. Overall, bifunctional signal probes showed more detection
sensitivity than monofunctional probes in scanometric methods based
on both DDH and SDH assays. The limit of detection of this developed
scanometric method was optimized (100 zM to 100 pM concentration).
Further, DDH assay-based scanometric method shows significant advantages
over the SDH assay method, such as cost-effectiveness, because it
requires only single probes (signal probes), less time-consuming by
the need of only single-step hybridization, and higher detection sensitivity
(up to zM). To the best of our knowledge, this is the first attempt
made to develop a scanometric-based nanoassay method for the detection
of plant viral DNA. This approach will be a remarkable milestone for
the application of nanotechnology in the development of nanobiosensor
for plant pathogen detection.