Aptamer-conjugated nanomaterials for bioanalysis and biotechnology applications

Abstract

In recent years, nanomaterials have captured the attention of scientists from a wide spectrum of domains. With their unique properties, nanomaterials offer great promise for numerous applications, ranging from catalysis to energy harvesting and information technology. Functionalized with the desired biomolecules, nanomaterials can also be utilized for many biomedical applications. This paper summarizes recent achievements in the use of aptamer-conjugated nanomaterials for bioanalysis and biotechnology applications. First, we discuss the features and properties of aptamers and then illustrate the use of aptamer-conjugated nanomaterials as sensing platforms and delivery vehicles, emphasizing how such integration can result in enhanced sensitivity and selectivity.

A Targeted “Capture” and “Removal” Scavenger toward Multiple Pollutants for Water Remediation based on Molecular Recognition

“…It was worth to mention that the effect of transport in the solution (Step I) and film diffusion (Step II) were negligible because vigorous shaking was applied in the adsorption process to accelerate the transport process in bulk solution and to reduce the boundary layer thickness. Furthermore, in consideration that aptamers were needed to turn from inactive state into active structures before binding with their target molecules,27 the sorption step (Step IV) should be slower than Steps I and II. Therefore, it was reasonable to hypothesize that the adsorption rate was determined by the steps of intraparticle diffusion (Step III) and sorption on the active sites (Step IV).…”

Electrochemical nanomaterial-based nucleic acid aptasensors

“…They have composition-dependent physical and chemical properties, including electronic, optical, magnetic, and catalytic properties and/or loading ability [62][63][64]. By combining the inherent features of nanomaterials with the specific recognition ability of aptamers, a range of nanomaterial-aptamer conjugates have proved their utility in several areas of science [65][66][67][68][69]. Biosensing is one of those areas.…”

Sensitive Electrochemical Prostate Specific Antigen Aptasensor: Effect of Carboxylic Acid Functionalized Carbon Nanotube and Glutaraldehyde Linker

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[a] 1IntroductionProstate canceri st he second leading cause of cancer mortality amongt he male population that consists of fourteen percent of all cancers and sixth percento ft he total cancer deathsi nm ales [1].P rostates pecific antigen (PSA) has shown to be the mostv alidated serum marker for the early detection of prostate and breast cancers and monitor for disease recurrence after treatment [2,3].I ti s a3 3-kDas ingle chain glycoprotein that exists naturallyi n the human serum, either free or in complex with various proteinase inhibitors.B lood total PSA concentrations above av alue of 4ng/ml is often suspected to the appearance of tumors in the prostate [4].T he early detection of PSA at organ-confined stage leads to the early diagnosis and management of prostate cancer, and so,i ncreasese xpectancy of complete patientr ecovery [5].T herefore,t he development of reliable diagnostic tests for the rapid determinationo fP SA has recentlya ttracted substantial research efforts of the scientific community [6] [4,[15][16][17][18].R ecently, electrochemical methodsh ave received great attention due to their inherent advantages of simplicity,e ase of miniaturization, rapid response,h igh sensitivity, and relatively low cost [19][20][21].E lectrochemical aptasensors are an ew kind of electrochemical sensors that use aptamers as recognition elements.A sit is well known, aptamers refer to single-stranded DNAo rR NA oligonucleotides that can selectively bind to ab road range of targets,i ncluding metal ions,s mall molecules,p eptides, proteins, and even complex targets such as whole cells and materials surfaces [22,23].A ptamers are selected using systematic evolution of ligands by exponential enrichment (SELEX) [24,25].O wing to numerous advantagess uch as high stability (especially DNAa ptamers), small size, ease of modification, high binding affinity,h igh specificity and wide target range,a ptamers are suitable candidates as recognition elements for the construction of biosensors [22,26,[23][24][25].M anyp ublications review the application of aptamers in bioanalysis systems [27,28].T he development of electrochemical aptasensors is based on either redox indicators or label-freed etections.M ost of redoxbased aptasensor...

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