SERS-Based Biosensors for Virus Determination with Oligonucleotides as Recognition Elements

Abstract

Viral infections are among the main causes of morbidity and mortality of humans; sensitive and specific diagnostic methods for the rapid identification of viral pathogens are required. Surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) is one of the most promising techniques for routine analysis due to its excellent sensitivity, simple and low-cost instrumentation and minimal required sample preparation. The outstanding sensitivity of SERS is achieved due to tiny nanostructures which must be assembled before or during the analysis. As for specificity, it may be provided using recognition elements. Antibodies, complimentary nucleic acids and aptamers are the most usable recognition elements for virus identification. Here, SERS-based biosensors for virus identification with oligonucleotides as recognition elements are reviewed, and the potential of these biosensors is discussed.

Optical technologies for the detection of viruses like COVID-19: Progress and prospects

“…The plasmonic nanostructure enabled improved Raman scattering in surface-enhanced Raman scattering technique (SERS) now finding increased application in virus studies ( Yeh et al, 2020 ). The popular antisense oligonucleotides (ASO) that liberated upon viral destruction have complementary sequences to some unique sites of viral genomes and often form a complex between ASO and viral genome, manifested as different SERS spectra compared to ASO ( Ambartsumyan et al, 2020 ). The production of ASO is straight forward, and it involves the sequencing of the target virus genomes and the selection of a unique sequence for a strain of choice.…”

SERS-Based Colloidal Aptasensors for Quantitative Determination of Influenza Virus

“…Recurrent pandemics make us face the problem of the absence of affordable, rapid and precise diagnostic tools. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) is a contemporary “gold standard” due to high sensitivity and accuracy [ 2 , 3 ]. PCR can be used both for qualitative and quantitative estimation of viral genomes.…”

“…Their limit of detection (LOD) is higher by 3–4 orders compared to PCR techniques, being more than 10 6 viral particles per mL (VP/mL) [ 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 ]. A number of extremely sensitive techniques have been developed, but they have not been optimized for routine usage because of long-lasting sophisticated sample preparation and/or usage of expensive high-technology equipment [ 3 , 12 , 13 , 14 , 15 ]. The development of simple, rapid and sensitive techniques for virus determination is in progress [ 3 ].…”

“…Biosensors with aptamers as recognition elements are of particular interest for virus determination due to their specificity, sensitivity and availability of aptamer functionalization with a variety of labels [ 3 , 16 ]. In our previous work, a SERS-based aptasensor for qualitative determination of influenza viruses had an intermediate limit of detection; the LOD was 10 4 viral particles per sample, which is 10-fold higher compared to PCR and 100-fold lower compared to antibody-based strips [ 17 ].…”

Metal nanoparticles/carbon dots nanocomposites for SERS devices: trends and perspectives

“…Surface-enhanced Raman Scattering (SERS) is a spectroscopic technique that makes use of the interaction of light with the surface of rough metal nanoparticles, making possible the chemical analysis of different analytes. The enhanced Raman signal from analyte (disposed on metal nanoparticles borders) is a consequence of high local electromagnetic field generated on specific sites of metal nanoparticles [12,13] from the coupling of incident laser light and the localized surface plasmon resonance on the surface of metal nanoparticles (described as a primary source of electromagnetic enhancement) [14][15][16][17][18][19].…”