Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

A Novel Fluorescence Nanobiosensor based on Modified Graphene Quantum dots-HTAB for Early Detection of Fetal Sexuality with Cell Free Fetal DNA

  • Original Article
  • Published:
Journal of Fluorescence Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Recently, prenatal diagnosis with non-invasive insight is a progressive approach in clinical medicine to prevent the birth of infants with genetic abnormalities. Cell free fetal DNA (cffDNA) makes up approximately 3–6% of the bare DNA in the mother's bloodstream which is produced during pregnancy and can be used to detect fetal sex and disease in the early stages. SRY is a gene located on the chromosome Y which determines the sex of male infants. In this work, a new nanobiosensor based on the fluorescence property of r-GQD@HTAB (reduced graphene quantum dots modified with hexadecyl trimethyl ammonium bromide) was fabricated that can identify the SRY gene in cffDNA with high sensitivity and specificity. A detection limit of 0.082 nM and the linear response range of 0.16–1.5 nM was obtained for the method. It was able to discriminate the target sequence with high specificity from the non-target sequences. This biosensor includes a new graphene quantum dot modified with a surfactant, HTAB which leads to high fluorescence emission of it and then more precise differentiation between ssDNA and DsDNA in a solution. In conclusion, it provides a novel analytical tool for detection of small amount of DNA and fetal sex and genetic diseases in early stage with prenatal and noninvasive tests and applicable for clinical use.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Scheme 1
Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7
Fig. 8
Fig. 9

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. McFarlane L, Truong V, Palmer JS, Wilhelm D (2013) Novel PCR assay for determining the genetic sex of mice. Sex Dev 7(4):207–211

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Biason-Lauber A (2017) Human sex development: from basic science to clinical practice and back. Pediatr Endocrinol Rev PER 15(1):8–20

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  3. Odeh M, Grinin V, Kais M, Ophir E, Bornstein J (2009) Sonographic fetal sex determination. Obstet Gynecol Surv 64(1):50–57

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Lo YD, Corbetta N, Chamberlain PF, Rai V, Sargent IL, Redman CW et al (1997) Presence of fetal DNA in maternal plasma and serum. The lancet 350(9076):485–487

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Lu X, Cui M, Yi Q (2020) Detection of mutant genes with different types of biosensor methods. TrAC Trends Anal Chem 126:115860

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Farzin MA, Abdoos H (2020) A critical review on quantum dots: from synthesis toward applications in electrochemical biosensors for determination of disease-related biomolecules. Talanta. p 121828

  7. Mao L, Liu X, Liu M, Huang L, Xu D, Jiang R et al (2017) Surface grafting of zwitterionic polymers onto dye doped AIE-active luminescent silica nanoparticles through surface-initiated ATRP for biological imaging applications. Appl Surf Sci 419:188–196

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. Walther BK, Dinu CZ, Guldi DM, Sergeyev VG, Creager SE, Cooke JP, et al. (2020) Nanobiosensing with graphene and carbon quantum dots: recent advances. Mater Today

  9. Takalkar S, Baryeh K, Liu G (2017) Fluorescent carbon nanoparticle-based lateral flow biosensor for ultrasensitive detection of DNA. Biosens Bioelectron 98:147–154

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. Zhang X, Wei C, Li Y, Yu D (2019) Shining luminescent graphene quantum dots: synthesis, physicochemical properties, and biomedical applications. TrAC, Trends Anal Chem 116:109–121

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  11. Meng L, Xiao K, Zhang X, Du C, Chen J (2020) A novel signal-off photoelectrochemical biosensor for M. SssI MTase activity assay based on GQDs@ ZIF-8 polyhedra as signal quencher. Biosens Bioelectron 150:111861

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  12. Zhang R, Sun J, Ji J, Pi F, Xiao Y, Zhang Y et al (2019) A novel “OFF-ON” biosensor based on nanosurface energy transfer between gold nanocrosses and graphene quantum dots for intracellular ATP sensing and tracking. Sens Actuators, B Chem 282:910–916

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  13. Lin L, Rong M, Luo F, Chen D, Wang Y, Chen X (2014) Luminescent graphene quantum dots as new fluorescent materials for environmental and biological applications. TrAC, Trends Anal Chem 54:83–102

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  14. Fernando MR, Jiang C, Krzyzanowski GD, Somer-Shely T, Ryan WL (2018) A novel approach to stabilize fetal cell-free DNA fraction in maternal blood samples for extended period of time. PloS one 13(12):e0208508

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  15. Barrett AN, Xiong L, Tan TZ, Advani HV, Hua R, Laureano-Asibal C et al (2017) Measurement of fetal fraction in cell-free DNA from maternal plasma using a panel of insertion/deletion polymorphisms. PloS one 12(10):e0186771

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  16. Mirtavoos-Mahyari H, Ghafouri-Fard S, Khosravi A, Motevaseli E, Esfahani-Monfared Z, Seifi S et al (2019) Circulating free DNA concentration as a marker of disease recurrence and metastatic potential in lung cancer. Clin Transl Med 8(1):14

    Article  Google Scholar 

  17. Chen J, Yu C, Zhao Y, Niu Y, Zhang L, Yu Y et al (2017) A novel non-invasive detection method for the FGFR3 gene mutation in maternal plasma for a fetal achondroplasia diagnosis based on signal amplification by hemin-MOFs/PtNPs. Biosens Bioelectron 91:892–899

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  18. Shi J, Chan C, Pang Y, Ye W, Tian F, Lyu J et al (2015) A fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) biosensor based on graphene quantum dots (GQDs) and gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) for the detection of mecA gene sequence of Staphylococcus aureus. Biosens Bioelectron 67:595–600

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  19. Narmani A, Kamali M, Amini B, Kooshki H, Amini A, Hasani L (2018) Highly sensitive and accurate detection of Vibrio cholera O1 OmpW gene by fluorescence DNA biosensor based on gold and magnetic nanoparticles. Process Biochem 65:46–54

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  20. Amini B, Kamali M, Salouti M, Yaghmaei P (2017) Fluorescence bio-barcode DNA assay based on gold and magnetic nanoparticles for detection of Exotoxin A gene sequence. Biosens Bioelectron 92:679–686

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  21. Mazloum-Ardakani M, Heidari M, Naderi M, Sheikh-Mohseni M (2012) Detection of amplified SRY gene by a novel electrochemical biosensor based on gold nanoparticles. Scientia Iranica 19(3):913–918

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  22. Liang S-S, Qi L, Zhang R-L, Jin M, Zhang Z-Q (2017) Ratiometric fluorescence biosensor based on CdTe quantum and carbon dots for double strand DNA detection. Sens Actuators, B Chem 244:585–590

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

The authors acknowledge the instrumental support of the University of Tehran.

Funding

This work was supported by the University of Tehran.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Life Science Engineering, Faculty of New Sciences and Technologies, University of Tehran, 14399-57131, Tehran, Iran

    Mahdi Rahaie & Bita Ostad-hasanzadeh

  2. Analytical Chemistry Department, Center of Excellence in Electrochemistry, School of Chemistry, College of Science, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran

    Farnoush Faridbod

Authors
  1. Mahdi Rahaie
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Bita Ostad-hasanzadeh
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Farnoush Faridbod
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Contributions

All authors contributed to the study. Material preparation, data collection and experimental works were performed by BOH. The manuscript was written by MR and conceptualization, methodology and visualization were done by MR FF supported a part of conceptualization, methodology and instrumental.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Mahdi Rahaie.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Additional information

Publisher's Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Rahaie, M., Ostad-hasanzadeh, B. & Faridbod, F. A Novel Fluorescence Nanobiosensor based on Modified Graphene Quantum dots-HTAB for Early Detection of Fetal Sexuality with Cell Free Fetal DNA. J Fluoresc 31, 1843–1853 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10895-021-02809-x

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10895-021-02809-x

Keywords

Search

Navigation