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Updated: Jul 21, 2025

Development of an Electrochemical DNA Biosensor to Detect a Foodborne Pathogen
Published on: June 3, 2018
DNA intercalation makes possible superior-gain organic photoelectrochemical transistor detection
Peng Ju1, Yu-Yue Zhu2, Tian-Tong Jiang3
1Key Laboratory of Marine Eco-Environmental Science and Technology, Marine Bioresource and Environment Research Center, First Institute of Oceanography, Ministry of Natural Resources, No. 6 Xianxialing Road, Qingdao, 266061, China; Shandong Key Laboratory of Marine Ecological Environment and Disaster Prevention and Mitigation, Qingdao, 266061, China; College of Safety and Environmental Engineering, Shandong University of Science and Technology, Qingdao, 266590, PR China.
Abstract:
DNA intercalation has increasingly been studied for various scenario implementations due to the diverse functions of DNA/intercalators. Nascent organic photoelectrochemical transistor (OPECT) biosensing taking place in organic electronics and photoelectrochemical bioanalysis represents a promising technological frontier in the arena. In this work, we first devise DNA intercalation-enabled OPECT for miRNA detection with a superior gain up to 17100. Intercalation of [Ru(bpy)2dppz]2+ within the miRNA-initiated hybrid chain reaction (HCR)-derived duplex DNA is realized for producing anodic photocurrent upon light stimulation, causing the corresponding target-dependent alternation in gate voltage (VG) and hence the modulated channel current (IDS) of poly (3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) doped with poly (styrene sulfonate) (PEDOT:PSS) under specific drain voltage (VDS) for quantitative miRNA-21 analysis, which shows a wide linear relationship and a low detection limit of 5.5 × 10-15 mol L-1. This study features the DNA intercalation-enabled organic electronics with superior gain and is envisaged to attract more attention to explore DNA adducts for innovative bioelectronics and biosensing, given the diverse DNA binders with multiple functions.

