Self-Powered Biosensor Based on DNA Walkers for Ultrasensitive MicroRNA Detection

Yan Yang; Futing Wang; Jingxian Li; Shuoyao He; Yifan Lyu; Hongfen Yang; Ren Cai; Weihong Tan

doi:10.1021/acs.analchem.3c03087

Self-Powered Biosensor Based on DNA Walkers for Ultrasensitive MicroRNA Detection

Anal Chem. 2023 Oct 10;95(40):15042-15048. doi: 10.1021/acs.analchem.3c03087. Epub 2023 Sep 28.

Authors

Yan Yang¹, Futing Wang¹, Jingxian Li¹, Shuoyao He¹, Yifan Lyu¹, Hongfen Yang², Ren Cai¹, Weihong Tan^{1

3

4}

Affiliations

¹ Molecular Science and Biomedicine Laboratory, State Key Laboratory for Chemo/Bio-Sensing and Chemometrics, College of Material Science and Engineering, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, College of Biology, Hunan University, Changsha, 410082, China.
² Hunan Key Laboratory of Typical Environmental Pollution and Health Hazards, School of Public Health, Hengyang Medical School, University of South China, Hengyang, 421001, China.
³ The Cancer Hospital of the University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Zhejiang Cancer Hospital, Hangzhou Institute of Medicine (HIM), Chinese Academy of Sciences, Hangzhou, Zhejiang 310022, China.
⁴ Institute of Molecular Medicine, Renji Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, and College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, 200240, China.

PMID: 37768137
DOI: 10.1021/acs.analchem.3c03087

Abstract

A novel self-powered biosensor is fabricated for ultrasensitive microRNA-21 (miRNA-21) detection, which includes an enzymatic biofuel cell (EBFC), DNA walkers, a digital multimeter (DMM), and a capacitor. As a novel strategy for signal amplification, DNA walkers are designed in the cathode, while the capacitor stores electrochemical energy from the EBFC to further boost the instantaneous current displayed by the DMM. When miRNA-21 is present, the DNA walkers are provoked to walk from as-opened hairpin structures to other hairpin structures, generating double-strand DNA structures, which stimulate [Ru(NH₃)₆]³⁺ to be adsorbed on the cathode surface by electrostatic interaction. Afterward, [Ru(NH₃)₆]³⁺ is reduced to [Ru(NH₃)₆]²⁺, and the open circuit voltage (E^OCV) is significantly increased. Depending on the approach of signal amplification from DNA walkers, this biosensor displays an ultrasensitive assay toward miRNA-21 in the range of 0.5 to 10⁴ fM, with a detection limit of 0.15 fM. In addition, this self-powered biosensor displays high selectivity for miRNA-21 assay in human serum samples.