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Sensitive colorimetric detection of miRNA-155 via G-quadruplex DNAzyme decorated spherical nucleic acid

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Abstract

Rapid and sensitive detection of biomarkers enables monitoring patients’ health status and can enhance the early diagnosis of deadly diseases. In this work, we have developed a new colorimetric platform based on spherical nucleic acid (SNA) and G-quadruplex DNAzymes for the identification of specific miRNAs. The simple hybridization between the target miRNA and two capture probes (capture probe 1 located at AuNP surface and free capture probe 2) is the working principle of this biosensor. The hybridization and duplex formation among probes and miRNAs led to a significant decrease in the intensity of color change. A linear relationship between the decrease of colorimetric signal and the amount of target molecules was witnessed from 1 to 100 nM for miRNA-155. Using this method, we were able to detect concentrations of miRNA-155 as low as 0.7 nM. Furthermore, the proposed sensing platform can be utilized profitably to detect miRNA-155 in real human serum samples. We further investigated the applicability of the proposed method in a microfluidic system which displayed promising results.

Graphical abstract

In this project, A G-quadruplex based SNAzyme was constructed to provide a fast and simple colorimetric method for miRNA detection. The SNAzyme actually employed as both target recognition element and catalytic nano labels for colorimetric detection.

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Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful to the Research Council of University of Tehran for the financial support of this work.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Nanobiosensors Lab, Department of Life Science Engineering, Faculty of New Sciences & Technologies, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran

    Kosar Shahsavar & Morteza Hosseini

  2. Department of Nanotechnology, Agricultural Biotechnology Research Institute of Iran (ABRII), Agricultural Research, Education and Extension Organization (AREEO), Karaj, Iran

    Ehsan Shokri

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  1. Kosar Shahsavar
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Contributions

Kosar Shahsavar: conceptualization, methodology, writing—original draft; Morteza Hosseini: resources, supervision, funding acquisition, and review and editing; Ehsan Shokri: validation, writing—review and editing.

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Correspondence to Morteza Hosseini.

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Shahsavar, K., Shokri, E. & Hosseini, M. Sensitive colorimetric detection of miRNA-155 via G-quadruplex DNAzyme decorated spherical nucleic acid. Microchim Acta 189, 357 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00604-022-05455-7

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