Elsevier

Biosensors and Bioelectronics

Volume 150, 15 February 2020, 111933
Biosensors and Bioelectronics

Detection of pathogenic bacteria via nanomaterials-modified aptasensors

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bios.2019.111933Get rights and content

Highlights

  • Detection of pathogens using biosensors is critical for translation into the clinic.

  • Aptamers offer a variety of merits to sensing platforms compared to conventional recognition elements.

  • A variety of nanomaterials have been utilized to design the sensing interfaces.

  • Nanostructured sensors leverage the analytical performance of aptasensors.

Abstract

Detection and identification of special cells via aptamer-based nano-conjugates sensors have been revolutionized over the past few years. These sensing platforms rely on selecting aptamers using systematic evolution of ligands by exponential enrichment (SELEX) in vitro, which allows for sensitive detection of cells. Integration of the aptamer-based sensors (aptasensors) with nanomaterials offers enhanced specificity and sensitivity, which in turn, offers great promise for numerous applications, spanning from bioanalysis to biomedical applications. Accordingly, the demand for using aptamer-conjugated nanomaterials for various applications has progressively increased over the past years. In light of this, this Review seeks to highlight the recent advances in the development of aptamer-conjugated nanomaterials and their utilization for the detection of various pathogens involved in infectious diseases and food contamination.

Introduction

Rapid and reliable detection of pathogens, such as Mycobacterium tuberculosis, Staphylococcus aureus and Salmonella typhimurium remains challenging in the realm of clinical microbiology. In this context, several conventional approaches have been used based on culture systems, such as detecting nucleic acids or immunological reactions (Atashpaz et al., 2010; Forouhandeh et al., 2010; Ghotaslou et al. 2010, 2013; Nemati et al., 2016; Sani et al., 2018; Shahi et al., 2018; Vahed et al., 2011). Despite the recent progress in the pathogen detection approaches, their use is still limited since they are time-consuming and labor-intensive. Therefore, the development of novel “rapid, sensitive and specific” analytical biosensors for the identification of pathogens is of paramount importance. Biosensors are analytical devices that combine a biological recognition mechanism with physical transduction, which enables the selective and sensitive recognition of a range of analytes (Bettazzi et al., 2013; Eftekhari et al., 2018; Hamidi-Asl et al., 2015a, Hamidi-Asl et al., 2015c, 2015b; Labib et al. 2009, 2016b; Pournaghi-Azar et al., 2008; Raoof et al., 2011b). In addition, biosensors have been recently proposed as appealing surrogates of traditional diagnostic tools to detect and quantify bacteria (Liu et al., 2016).

Aptamers are defined as single-stranded nucleic acid strands that are selected against a specific target through iterative rounds of selection. Aptamers offer several advantages over traditional antibodies, including their stability, relatively small size, lack of immunogenicity, and ease of chemical modification (Labib et al., 2012e; Muharemagic et al., 2012a). Systematic evolution of ligands by exponential enrichment (SELEX) in vitro is often employed to aptamers against a target analyte ranging in size from a small molecule to a whole cell (Lee et al., 2013; Muharemagic et al., 2012b; Stoltenburg et al., 2007; Wilson and Szostak, 1999; Zununi Vahed et al., 2018). Despite the lack of preceding data of particular targets, a counter-selection method using non-targets significantly improves the selectivity of the selected aptamers. Recent studies have demonstrated that combining aptamers with different nanomaterials can result in the production of sensing platforms with paramount sensitivity that can be employed for the early detection of infectious diseases (Eftekhari et al., 2018; Raoof et al. 2009, 2011a; Zununi Vahed et al., 2018).

Various types of nanoparticles ranging from metal to carbon-based materials such as carbon nanotubes, graphite and graphene have been developed and used for immobilization of recognition elements or amplification of detection signals in bioanalytical applications (Asghary et al., 2015; Hamidi-Asl et al. 2015a, 2016b; Iqbal et al., 2015). Accordingly, due to the progressive need and demand for using aptasensors for various applications, many recent studies have focused on the utilization of aptamer-conjugated nanomaterials in biomedical applications, such as detection of pathogenic bacteria in food contamination and infectious diseases (Labib et al., 2012a, c; Mocan et al., 2017; Shahdordizadeh et al., 2017; Sharma and Raghavarao, 2019; Wu et al., 2019).

The present review addresses the recent advances in development of aptamer-conjugated nanomaterials and their applications in the detection of various pathogens in infectious diseases and food contamination.

Section snippets

Aptamer selection

Aptamer-based sensors mainly rely on conformational changes in the aptamer molecule upon binding to its respective target analyte. These conformational changes lead to measurable signals (Dhiman et al., 2017; Hasanzadeh et al., 2017; Seo and Gu, 2017). They are generally produced by a selection and amplification technology (SELEX) in vitro. Aptamers are selected from a large library of oligonucleotides with a complex structure and a vast sequence diversity. After several selection rounds,

Nanomaterial-based aptasensors

Recent progress in the area of nanotechnology have led to parallel advances in nanoscale science and technology and synthesis of a variety of nanomaterials such as transducers with exceptional electronic, optical, catalytic and magnetic properties. On balance, the decrease in the material dimension (between 1 and 100 nm), noticeably improves the analytical performance of the sensor without altering its properties. The resultant large surface-to-volume ratio significantly enhances the

Conclusions and outlook

The development of aptasensors based on nanomaterials hold great promise for advances in bioanalytical chemistry. However, the design of aptasensors based on nanoscaled transducers is usually challenged by mass-transfer limitations and the need for a robust fluid actuation at the nanoscale level. Although numerous nanomaterials have been developed, there is a general lack of universal protocols for their preparation, particularly at an industrial-scale. Challenges associated with their

CRediT authorship contribution statement

Simin Sharifi: Writing - original draft. Sepideh Zununi Vahed: Writing - original draft. Elham Ahmadian: Writing - original draft. Solmaz Maleki Dizaj: Writing - original draft. Aziz Eftekhari: Writing - original draft. Rovshan Khalilov: Writing - original draft. Moloud Ahmadi: Writing - review & editing. Ezat Hamidi-Asl: Writing - review & editing. Mahmoud Labib: Writing - review & editing.

Declaration of competing interest

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Acknowledgement

S.S., S.W., E.A., S.D., A.E., R.K., E.H-A. wish to thank the Vice-Chancellor for Research (VCR) of Tabriz University of Medical Sciences (TUOMS) in Iran for financial support (grant ID: 62476).

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