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Ultrasensitive detection of plant hormone abscisic acid-based surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy aptamer sensor

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Abstract

Abscisic acid (ABA), as the most common plant hormone in the growth of wheat, can greatly affect the yield when its levels deviate from normal. Therefore, highly sensitive and selective detection of this hormone is greatly needed. In this work, we developed an aptamer sensor based on surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) and applied it for the high sensitivity detection of ABA. Biotin-modified ABA aptamer complement chains were modified on ferrosoferric oxide magnetic nanoparticles (Fe3O4MNPs) and acted as capture probes, and sulfhydryl aptamer (SH-Apt)-modified silver-coated gold nanospheres (Au@Ag NPs) were used as signal probes. Through the recognition of the ABA aptamer and its complementary chains, an aptamer sensor based on SERS was constructed. As SERS internal standard molecules of 4-mercaptobenzoic acid (4-MBA) were encapsulated between the gold core and silver shell of the signal probes; the constructed aptamer sensor generated a strong SERS signal of 4-MBA after magnetic separation. When there were ABA molecules in the detection system, with the preferential binding of ABA aptamer and ABA molecule, the signal probes were released from the capture probes, after magnetic separation, leading to a linear decrease in SERS intensity of 4-MBA. Thus, the detection response was linear over a logarithmic concentration range, with an ultra-low detection limit of 0.67 fM. In addition, the practical use of this assay method was demonstrated in ABA detection from fresh wheat leaves, with a relative error (RE) of 5.43–8.94% when compared with results from enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). The low RE value proves that the aptamer sensor will be a promising method for ABA detection.

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Funding

The authors are thankful to the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant numbers 32071890, 31671581) and Agricultural Biological resources Engineering technology Foreign Scientist Workshop project of Henan province (GZS2021007).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering, Henan Agricultural University, Zhengzhou, 450002, China

    Yanyan Zhang, Linze Li, Hao Zhang, Junjian Shang, Can Li, Syed Muhammad Zaigham Abbas Naqvi & Jiandong Hu

  2. Henan International Joint Laboratory of Laser Technology in Agricultural Sciences, Zhengzhou, 450002, China

    Yanyan Zhang, Linze Li, Hao Zhang, Junjian Shang, Can Li, Syed Muhammad Zaigham Abbas Naqvi & Jiandong Hu

  3. Department of Physics, University of Nairobi, Nairobi, 30197, Kenya

    Zephania Birech

  4. State Key Laboratory of Wheat and Maize Crop Science, Zhengzhou, 45002, China

    Jiandong Hu

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  1. Yanyan Zhang
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Zhang, Y., Li, L., Zhang, H. et al. Ultrasensitive detection of plant hormone abscisic acid-based surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy aptamer sensor. Anal Bioanal Chem 414, 2757–2766 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00216-022-03923-w

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