Artificial-enzyme gel membrane-based biosurveillance sensor with high reproducibility and long-term storage stability

Area of Science:

• Biochemistry
• Analytical Chemistry
• Sensor Technology

Background:

• Biosurveillance requires sensitive and selective detection methods for biological threats.
• Current methods may lack the ability to detect a broad range of contaminants efficiently.
• Exploiting structural commonalities offers a novel approach to biosurveillance.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a novel biosensor for primary biosurveillance.
• To exploit structural commonality in biologically relevant phosphoric substances for detection.
• To create a sensor capable of detecting a wide range of biocontaminants.

Main Methods:

• Fabrication of an artificial-enzyme membrane for sensor development.
• Utilizing structure-selective catalytic hydrolysis of diphosphoric acid anhydride structures.
• Coupling catalytic hydrolysis with amperometric detection at -250 mV vs. Ag/AgCl.
• Synthesizing and testing the artificial-enzyme membrane for sensor applications.

Main Results:

• The artificial-enzyme membrane successfully catalyzed the hydrolysis of diphosphoric acid anhydride structures.
• The sensor demonstrated structure-selective detection of various biological phosphoric substances.
• Detection was achieved in the micromolar (µM) to millimolar (mM) concentration range with good stability and reproducibility.
• The sensor successfully detected heat-lysed Escherichia coli, with response correlating to bacterial numbers.

Conclusions:

• Artificial-enzyme-based detection is a viable and novel strategy for practical front-line biosurveillance.
• The sensor's ability to detect molecular commonality enables comprehensive surveillance of biocontaminants.
• This approach can be applied to the detection of microorganisms, spores, and viruses.