Gold nanoparticles for the bare-eye based and spectrophotometric detection of proteins, polynucleotides and DNA

Abstract

We have explored the potential of using gold nanoparticles (Au-NPs) in optical and bare-eye discrimination of (a) proteins (such as bovine serum albumin and lysozyme), (b) homo-polynucleotides (such as poly-adenylic acid, polycytidylic acid, poly-uridylic acid and poly-inosinic acid), and (c) long chain DNA (from salmon, herring and thym). Such biomacromolecules can be detected and discriminated due to their ability to prevent the formation of blue aggregates from red (non-aggregated) citrate capped Au-NPs on addition of NaCl. The effect of these biomacromolecules on the aggregation was investigated by colorimetry and UV-vis spectrometry. The results show that the two proteins can be differentiated by colorimetry, and also salmon ssDNA and dsDNA. The AuNPs can also discriminate the dsDNAs of salmon and herring. We conclude that the use of Au-NPs represent a viable candidate to future methods of DNA analysis on the basis of visual testing, particularly in the area of food analysis.

Advancement in Salmonella Detection Methods: From Conventional to Electrochemical-Based Sensing Detection

“…They offer a large surface to volume ratio due to that nanoscale size, unique electron transfer ability, and great biocompatibility [ 271 ]. AuNPs also can be handily conjugated with many biomolecules without affecting their respective biochemical activities [ 272 ]. Thiolation of respective biomolecules, e.g., oligonucleotides (DNA-AuNPs) is probably the most simple and best way to attach biomolecules to AgNPs through a self-assembled monolayer (SAM) [ 273 ].…”

Adsorption of proteins on TiO2 particles influences their aggregation and cell penetration

“…Thus, similar analyses were performed using two different media used for cell culture (Figure 2C). This experiment was also motivated because the role of protein loading cannot be predicted since it is dependent on the protein and the eventual binding with small molecules, as shown for gold NP (Coglitore et al, 2018;Lepoitevin et al, 2015) or clay mineral (Trigueiro et al, 2018).…”

“…This is enhanced by the presence of salt in the media (Allouni et al, 2009). The ability of proteins to prevent nanoparticle aggregation is well known (Lepoitevin et al, 2015). For noble metals, such property is modulated to design colorimetric sensors (Sabela et al, 2017).…”

Recent Developments in the Design of Non-Biofouling Coatings for Nanoparticles and Surfaces

“…Although some studies have suggested that the adhesion of particular proteins could enhance the circulation times of certain NPs by reducing unspecific cellular uptake [4,5], normally, the opsonization process and recognition by the reticulo-endothelial system (RES) substantially shorten the circulation times of nanomedicines in blood, reducing the possibility of them realizing their function, as shown in Figure 1 [6,7]. Hence, understanding the interaction between proteins and NPs or surfaces is a major field of research, for which a plethora of techniques are being developed [8][9][10][11][12].…”