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An electrochemical aptamer-based sensor for the rapid and convenient measurement of l-tryptophan

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Abstract

The field of precision medicine—the possibility to accurately tailor pharmacological treatments to each specific patient—would be significantly advanced by the ability to rapidly, conveniently, and cost-effectively measure biomarkers directly at the point of care. Electrochemical aptamer-based (E-AB) sensors appear a promising approach to this end due to their low cost, ease of use, and good analytical performance in complex clinical samples. Thus motivated, we present here the development of an E-AB sensor for the measurement of the amino acid l-tryptophan, a diagnostic marker indicative of a number of metabolic and mental health disorders, in urine. The sensor employs a previously reported DNA aptamer able to recognize the complex formed between tryptophan and a rhodium-based receptor. We adopted the aptamer to the E-AB sensing platform by truncating it, causing it to undergo a binding-induced conformational change, modifying it with a redox-reporting methylene blue, and attaching it to an interrogating electrode. The resulting sensor is able to measure tryptophan concentrations in the micromolar range in minutes and readily discriminates between its target and other aromatic and non-aromatic amino acids. Using it, we demonstrate the measurement of clinically relevant tryptophan levels in synthetic urine in a process requiring only a single dilution step. The speed and convenience with which this is achieved suggest that the E-AB platform could significantly improve the ease and frequency with which metabolic diseases are monitored.

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Acknowledgements

The authors wish to thank Prof. Milan Stojanovic for advice and input.

Funding

This work was funded in part by a grant from Aptatek Biosciences. The authors of this work have no financial interest in Aptakek Biosciences. This work was also funded by grant EB022015 from the National Institutes of Health.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of California, Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA, 93106, USA

    Andrea Idili, Claudio Parolo & Kevin W. Plaxco

  2. Center for Bioengineering, University of California, Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA, 93106, USA

    Andrea Idili, Claudio Parolo & Kevin W. Plaxco

  3. Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, University of California, Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA, 93106, USA

    Julian Gerson & Tod Kippin

  4. Department of Molecular Cellular and Developmental Biology, University of California, Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA, 93106, USA

    Tod Kippin

  5. Department of Neuroscience Research Institute, University of California, Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA, 93106, USA

    Tod Kippin

Authors
  1. Andrea Idili
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  2. Julian Gerson
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  3. Claudio Parolo
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  4. Tod Kippin
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  5. Kevin W. Plaxco
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Correspondence to Kevin W. Plaxco.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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Published in the topical collection Young Investigators in (Bio-)Analytical Chemistry with guest editors Erin Baker, Kerstin Leopold, Francesco Ricci, and Wei Wang.

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Idili, A., Gerson, J., Parolo, C. et al. An electrochemical aptamer-based sensor for the rapid and convenient measurement of l-tryptophan. Anal Bioanal Chem 411, 4629–4635 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00216-019-01645-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00216-019-01645-0

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