Electrochemical Detection of a Few Copies of Unamplified SARS-CoV-2 Nucleic Acids by a Self-Actuated Molecular System

J Am Chem Soc. 2022 Aug 3;144(30):13526-13537. doi: 10.1021/jacs.2c02884. Epub 2022 Jul 20.

Abstract

The existing electrochemical biosensors lack controllable and intelligent merit to modulate the sensing process upon external stimulus, leading to challenges in analyzing a few copies of biomarkers in unamplified samples. Here, we present a self-actuated molecular-electrochemical system that consists of a tentacle and a trunk modification on a graphene microelectrode. The tentacle that contains a probe and an electrochemical label keeps an upright orientation, which increases recognition efficiency while decreasing the pseudosignal. Once the nucleic acids are recognized, the tentacles nearby along with the labels are spontaneously actuated downward, generating electrochemical responses under square wave voltammetry. Thus, it detects unamplified SARS-CoV-2 RNAs within 1 min down to 4 copies in 80 μL, 2-6 orders of magnitude lower than those of other electrochemical assays. Double-blind testing and 10-in-1 pooled testing of nasopharyngeal samples yield high overall agreement with reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction results. We fabricate a portable prototype based on this system, showing great potential for future applications.

Publication types

  • Randomized Controlled Trial
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Biosensing Techniques* / methods
  • COVID-19* / diagnosis
  • Double-Blind Method
  • Humans
  • Nasopharynx
  • Nucleic Acids*
  • SARS-CoV-2 / genetics

Substances

  • Nucleic Acids