Tunable surface potential nanomaterials for enhanced environmental nucleic acid extraction and surveillance

Environmental nucleic acid (eNA) technology is an essential tool for public health and environmental management, including virus surveillance and antibiotic resistance gene (ARG) monitoring. However, large-scale, high-frequency eNA analysis remains challenging due to existing extraction techniques being inefficient, time-consuming, and reliant on specialized equipment. This study introduces a versatile eNA extraction approach using a reusable magnetic material with tunable surface potential (TPMP), achieving ∼90 % recovery efficiency within 60 min and demonstrating superior enrichment across various eNA forms. In addition to replacing conventional biological survey methods for bacterial and viral studies, TPMP enhanced the enrichment of extracellular eNA (e-eNA), revealing previously overlooked bioinformation from lysed exogenous microbes, ARG-containing viruses and pathogens, while enabling comprehensive analysis of virus-host interactions. These findings underscore e-eNA's potential for pathogen surveillance and source tracking. Furthermore, leveraging TPMP's simplicity and reusability, we established a routine environmental monitoring platform for long-term ARG monitoring, successfully identifying baseline levels and seasonal fluctuations of ARG hotspots.