Selection and applications of synthetic functional DNAs for bacterial detection

• Published in: TrAC, Trends in analytical chemistry (Regular ed.) Trends in analytical chemistry (Regular ed.), 2020-03, Vol.124, p.115785, Article 115785
• Main Authors: McConnell, Erin M., Morrison, Devon, Rey Rincon, Maria Alejandra, Salena, Bruno J., Li, Yingfu
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Aptamer; Bacterial detection; Biosensor; DNAzyme; Functional nucleic acid; In vitro selection; Paper sensors; Signal amplification
• ISSN: 0165-9936; 1879-3142
• DOI: 10.1016/j.trac.2019.115785

Early detection of an infectious bacterium is essential to preventing a potential outbreak or minimizing the impact of an active infection. Although prevailing methods are effective in many aspects, they suffer from being complex, expensive or insensitive. These drawbacks prevent their applications by the general public or under resource-limited settings. Therefore, developing rapid, accurate, inexpensive and sensitive methods for pathogenic bacterial detection remains a major research focus in the global research community. In recent years, functional nucleic acids, particularly DNA aptamers and DNAzymes, have been increasingly examined as the recognition element for bacterial biomarkers and whole bacterial cells. Significant efforts have also been made to utilize these affinity probes for the design of simple and cost-effective biosensors for bacterial detection. This review highlights the key achievements in this area, identifies important challenges, and provides thoughts on future directions. •DNA aptamers and DNAzymes are reliable components of bacterial biosensors.•Functional DNA can possess high affinity and specificity towards target bacteria.•Target ligands can be found through an in vitro selection process.•Many aptamers and DNAzymes are translated into sensors used in complex matrices.•Competitive limits of detection can be improved through amplification techniques.