Abstract
Nucleic acid detection is an important part of our bio-detection arsenal, with the COVID-19 pandemic clearly demonstrating the importance to healthcare of rapid and efficient detection of specific pathogenic sequences. As part of the drive to establish new DNA detection methodologies and signal read-outs, here we show how linear dichroism (LD) spectroscopy can be used to produce a rapid and modular detection system for detecting quantities of DNA from both bacterial and viral pathogens. The LD sensing method exploits changes in fluid alignment of bionanoparticles (bacteriophage M13) engineered with DNA stands covalently attached to their surfaces, with the read-out signal induced by the formation of complementary duplexes between DNA targets and two M13 bionanoparticles. This new sandwich assay can detect pathogenic material down to picomolar levels in under 1 minute without amplification, as demonstrated by the successful sensing of DNA sequences from a plant virus (Potato virus Y) and an ampicillin resistance gene, ampR.
Highlights
Effective nucleic acid (DNA or RNA) detection is essential for flagging and monitoring genetic diseases, as well as identifying dangerous pathogens
Despite ongoing advances in sequencing technologies, the most widely used nucleic acid detection methods, commercial or otherwise, continue to involve fluorescence spectroscopy. This can largely be attributed to ubiquitous real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assays, in which fluorescent molecules denote the presence of DNA.[1]
We demonstrate the development of a new DNA sensing technique, based on linear dichroism (LD) spectroscopy, as a potential solution to some of these issues
Summary
Effective nucleic acid (DNA or RNA) detection is essential for flagging and monitoring genetic diseases, as well as identifying dangerous pathogens.
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