Electrochemical genosensor for the detection of Alexandrium minutum dinoflagellates

• Autor(a) principal: Morais, S.L.
• Data de Publicação: 2021
• Outros Autores: Barros, Piedade, Santos, M., Delerue-Matos, C., Gomes, A.C., Fátima Barroso, M.
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
• Texto Completo: http://hdl.handle.net/10400.22/16625
• topic: Alexandrium minutum; Dinoflagellate; Chronoamperometry; Electrochemical genosensor; Sandwich format hybridization

This work addresses the development of a disposable electrochemical genosensor for the detection of the toxic dinoflagellate, Alexandrium minutum. Analyzing public databases, a specific 70 bp DNA probe, targeting A. minutum, was selected and designed. The genosensor methodology implied the immobilization of a A. minutum-specific DNA-capture probe onto screen-printed gold electrodes (SPGE). To improve both the selectivity and to avoid strong secondary structures, that could hinder the hybridization efficiency, a sandwich format of the A. minutum gene was designed using a fluorescein isothiocyanate-labelled signaling DNA probe and enzymatic amplification of the electrochemical signal. Using this electrochemical genosensor, a concentration range from 0.12 to 1.0 nM, a LD of 24.78 pM with a RSD <5.2% was determined. The genosensor was successfully applied to the selective analysis of the targeted A. minutum specific region denatured genomic DNA extracted from toxic dinoflagellates present in the Atlantic Ocean.