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Spatially resolved profiling of miRNAs was realized in migrating cells using enzyme-free signal-amplification nanoprobes, in which distinct migration modes of single living cells are driven by precisely engineered microchips.

Design of highly active and stable non-precious electrocatalysts towards hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) is a hot research topic in low cost, clean and sustainable hydrogen energy field, yet remaining the important challenge caused by the sluggish reaction kinetics for water-alkali electrolyzers. Herein, a robust electrocatalyst is proposed by designing a novel sub-nanometer of copper and ruthenium bimetallic phosphide nanoclusters (RuxCuyP2) supported on a graphited carbon nanofibers (CNF). Uniform RuxCuyP2 (~1.90 nm) on the surface of CNF are obtained by introducing the dispersed Ru, thereby improving the intrinsic activity for HER. On optimizing the Ru ratio, the (x = y = 1) RuCuP2/CNF catalyst exhibits an excellent HER electroactivity with an overpotential of 10 mV in 1.0 M NaOH electrolyte to produce 10 mA cm−2 current density, which is lower than commercial 20% Pt/C in alkaline solution. Moreover, the kinetic study demonstrated that electrochemical activation energies for HER of RuCuP2/CNF is 20.7 kJ mol−1 highest among different ratio bimetallic phosphide. This simple, cost-effective, and environmentally friendly methodology can pave the way for exploitation of bimetallic phosphide nanoclusters for catalyst design.

Nanoconfinement in mesoporous nanoarchitectures could dramatically change molecular transport and reaction kinetics during electrochemical process. A molecular-level understanding of nanoconfinement and mass transport is critical for the applications, but a proper route to study it is lacking. Herein, we develop a single nanoreactor electrochemiluminescence (SNECL) microscopy based on Ru(bpy)32+-loaded mesoporous silica nanoparticle to directly visualize in situ nanoconfinement-enhanced electrochemical reactions at the single molecule level. Meanwhile, mass transport capability of single nanoreactor, reflected as long decay time and recovery ability, is monitored and simulated with a high spatial resolution. The nanoconfinement effects in our system also enable imaging single proteins on cellular membrane. Our SNECL approach may pave the way to decipher the nanoconfinement effects during electrochemical process, and build bridges between mesoporous nanoarchitectures and potential electrochemical applications.

An ultrasensitive luminol electrochemiluminescence (ECL) immunosensor was constructed for the detection of prostate specific antigen (PSA) using glucose oxidase-decorated hemin-graphene oxide-gold nanoflowers ternary nanocomposites as probes. Graphene oxide was first modified with hemin and then with gold nanoflowers through an in situ growth method, which has significantly boosted the catalytic activity of this graphene oxide-based peroxidase mimetics. The biocatalytical activity of this ECL immunosensor was thoroughly investigated to achieve selective recognition of the analyte molecules (PSA) by specific binding between antigens and antibodies. The limit of detection was calculated to be 0.32 pg mL

Artificial aquaporins are synthetic molecules that mimic the structure and function of natural aquaporins (AQPs) in cell membranes. The development of artificial aquaporins would provide an alternative strategy for treatment of AQP-related diseases. In this report, an artificial aquaporin has been constructed from an amino-terminated tubular molecule, which operates in a unimolecular mechanism. The artificial channel can work in cell membranes with high water permeability and selectivity rivaling those of AQPs. Importantly, the channel can restore wound healing of the cells that contain function-lost AQPs.

The in vitro detection of low abundance biomolecules via nonenzymatic signal amplification is an attractive strategy. However, it remains a challenge to monitor targets of interest in situ in living cells by low-background interference and visualized enzyme-free signal amplification strategies. Taking advantage of the single-molecule imaging and dynamic DNA nanotechnologies, we have achieved the target-triggered self-assembly of nanostructure-based dual-color fluorescent probes (NDFPs) by an enzyme-free toehold-mediated strand displacement cascade. NDFPs will facilitate the simple and visualized monitoring of microRNA (miRNA) at the femtomolar level. The recycled miRNA can be considered as the catalyst for the assembly of multiple H1/H2 duplexes. This generated the fluorescence signal of the enhanced target expression, indicating both in vitro and in vivo signal-amplified imaging. Moreover, the NDFPs improved the measurement accuracy by dual-color colocalization imaging to greatly avoid false-positive signals and enabled the successful in situ imaging of miRNA in living cells in real time. This work provides a strategy to visually monitor and study the integration of signal amplification detection and single-molecule imaging. NDFPs may be an important step toward the enzyme-free amplified monitoring and imaging of various biomolecules in living cells at the single-molecule level.

Spatial imaging of RNAs in single cells is extremely charming for deciphering of regulatory mechanisms in multiple migration modes during tumor metastasis. Herein, enzyme-free-mediated cascade amplified nanoprobes were designed for in situ single-molecule imaging of dual-microRNAs (miRNAs) in switchable migrating cells. Differential expression and localization of dual-miRNAs were clearly exhibited in multiple cell lines attributed to enhanced sensitivity via the cascade signal amplification strategy. Significantly, in situ three-dimensional (3D) imaging of dual-miRNAs in transition of cell migration phenotypes was successfully reconstructed in both non-confined and confined microenvironments in vitro, of which differential spatial distribution was observed in a single cell. This is very promising for exploring key roles of spatial RNA distribution in migrating cells at the single-molecule level, which will advance revealing the molecular mechanism and physical principle in 3D cell migration in vivo.

In this work, based on the powerful cycle amplification cascades of proximity hybridization-induced hybridization chain reaction and catalyzed hairpin assembly, we engineered a nonenzymatic and ultrasensitive method which combined the Mg2+-DNAzyme recycling signal amplification for the analysis of the human prostate specific antigen. Herein, we adopted PSA-conjugates as triggers in the self-assembly process of two hairpin DNAs (H1, H2) into the products of the CHA which could activate the HCR to induce repeated hybridization. And both ends of each adjacent sequence of the HCR products could form a unit of Mg2+-DNAzyme which in presence of cofactor Mg2+ could recognize and cyclically cleave the hairpin probes in the solution and thus generate observably enhanced fluorescent signal. Benefit from the nucleic acid circuit amplification strategy, PSA of concentration low to 0.73 pg mL−1 was detected in this system. This homogeneous sensing method in solution avoid the use of the sophisticated equipment and complex operation, as well as addition of artificial enzyme, thus greatly reducing the constraints and complexity of experimental conditions. Moreover, considering most protein biomarkers in serum don't have their corresponding aptamers, this sensing method provide a general sensing approach for homogeneous sensitive detection of these important protein biomarkers which transfer rough antigen-antibody interactivity to smart signal amplification sensing strategies, thus exhibiting a remarkable prospect in clinical application.

An upgraded nicking/polymerization strategy for ultrasensitive electrochemical detection of Watermelon mosaic virus (WMV) is proposed on the basis of the exonuclease and polymerase activity of T4 DNA polymerase and Mg2+-dependent DNAzyme-assisted and hemin/G-quadruplex DNAzyme-assisted cascade amplification strategies. Briefly, the hybridized DNA of the target WMV sequence, HP1, and P1 was recognized and nicked by nicking endonuclease Nb.BbvCI, and two DNA segments (P1-25 and P1-6) were produced. P1-25 was digested in the 3′→5′ direction, and digestion was halted at the 3′-terminal G locus with the exonuclease activity of T4 DNA polymerase. When dNTP solution mix was added to the mixture, an intact enzymatic sequence of Mg2+-dependent DNAzyme was synthesized by T4 DNA polymerase, which hybridized with its substrate sequence in the loop segment of HP2 immobilized on a gold electrode and initiated the cleavage round. The caged G-quadruplex sequence was released and formed hemin/G-quadruplex-based DNAzyme, resulting in sharply increased electrochemical signals. A correlation between the differential pulse voltammetry signal and the concentration of target WMV sequence was obtained in the range from 50 fM to 1 nM, with 50 fM detection limit. Because the nicking and polymerization reactions are irreversible and share the same buffer, the cascade amplification strategy is an ultrasensitive and high-efficiency strategy, indicating potential for viral detection.

Design of highly active and stable non-precious electrocatalysts towards hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) is a hot research topic in low cost, clean and sustainable hydrogen energy field, yet remaining the important challenge caused by the sluggish reaction kinetics for water-alkali electrolyzers. Herein, a robust electrocatalyst is proposed by designing a novel sub-nanometer of copper and ruthenium bimetallic phosphide nanoclusters (Ru

MicroRNA (miRNA) has emerged as one of the ideal target biomarker analytes for cancer detection because its abnormal expression is closely related to the occurrence of many cancers. In this work, we combined three-dimensional (3D) popcorn-like gold nanofilms as novel surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS)-electrochemistry active substrates with toehold-mediated strand displacement reactions (TSDRs) to construct a DNA molecular machine for SERS-electrochemistry dual-mode detection of miRNA. 3D popcorn-like spatial structures generated more active "hot spots" and thus enhanced the sensitivity of SERS and electrochemical signals. Besides, the TSDRs showed high sequence-dependence and high specificity. The addition of target miRNA will trigger the molecular machine to perform two TSDRs in the presence of signal DNA strands modified by R6G (R6G-DNA), thus achieving an enzyme-free amplification detection of miRNA with a low limit of detection of 0.12 fM (for the SERS method) and 2.2 fM (for the electrochemical method). This biosensor can also serve as a universally amplified and sensitive detection platform for monitoring different biomarkers, such as cancer-related DNA, messenger RNA, or miRNA molecules, with high selectivity by changing the corresponding probe sequence.

Transpeptidation of surface proteins catalyzed by the transpeptidase sortase plays a critical role in the infection process of Gram-positive pathogen. Monitoring sortase activity and screening its inhibitors are of great significance to fundamental understanding of the infection mechanism and pharmaceutical development. Herein, we developed a digital single-particle imaging method to quantify sortase A (SrtA) activity based on transpeptidation-mediated assembly and enumeration of gold nanoparticles (GNPs). The assay utilizes two peptide stands, in which one has the SrtA recognition sequence LPXTG motif while the other carries an oligoglycine nucleophile at the one end and a biotin group at the other. The presence of SrtA enables the ligation of two peptides and allows for the immobilization of streptavidin-functionalized GNPs. Thus, SrtA activity can be quantified by imaging and enumeration of the surface-assembled GNPs at the single-particle level via dark-field microscopy. The single-particle method was highly sensitive to SrtA activity with a low detection limit of 7.9 pM and a wide linear dynamic range from 0.05 to 50 nM. Besides detection of SrtA in complex biological samples such as Gram-positive pathogen lysates, the proposed method was also successfully applied to estimate the half-maximal inhibitory concentration (IC50) values of SrtA inhibitors (curcumin, berberine hydrochloride and quercetin). The present method, combining single-GNP counting and dark-field imaging, provides a facile and novel analytical tool for SrtA activity and its inhibitor screening.

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The rapid and accurate bacterial testing is a critical step for the management of infectious diseases, but challenges remain largely due to a lack of advanced sensing tools. Here we report the development of highly plasmon-active, biofunctional nanoparticle arrays for simultaneous capture, identification, and differentiation of bacteria by surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS). The nanoarrays were facilely prepared through an electrostatic mechanism-controlled self-assembly of metallic nanoparticles at liquid-liquid interfaces, and exhibited high SERS sensitivity beyond femtomole, good reproducibility (relative standard deviation of 2.7%) and stability. Modification of the nanoarrays with concanavalin A allowed to effective capture of both Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria (bacterial-capture efficiency maintained beyond 50%) at bacterial concentrations ranging from 50 to 2000 CFU mL−1, as determined by the plate-counting method. Moreover, single-cell Raman fingerprinting and discrimination of eight different bacteria species with high signal-to-noise ratio, excellent spectral reproducibility, and a total assay time of 1.5 h was achieved under fairly mild conditions (24 μW, acquisition time: 1 s). Collectively, we believe that our biofunctionalized, SERS-based self-assembled nanoarrays have great potential to help in rapid and label-free bacterial diagnosis and phenotyping study.

Rice blast is one of the most destructive disease, which is estimated to cause 10–30% loss of global rice output annually. Single nucleotide change in bsr-d1 promoter (SNP-33 G) is conferred broad-spectrum resistance to rice blast. In this paper, we reported the construction of a relatively simple, inexpensive and ultrasensitive electrochemical DNA biosensor to detect SNP-33 G for the first time. PCR product with a 19-nt-long sticky end was generated in the presence of T4 DNA polymerase and dGTP, which was used as a powerful signal amplifying tool in the assay. The biosensor was immersed in RuHex buffer as a redox, and a high current signal could be observed due to the electrostatically bound between RuHex and the phosphate backbone of PCR product. Under optimal conditions, the electrochemical DNA biosensor exhibited satisfied performance for the determination of mutant-type of bsr-d1 promoter with a linearity ranging from 0.1 fM to 0.1 pM and a relatively low detection limit of 0.1 fM. The proposed biosensor showed excellent selectivity of SNP-33 G compared to that of wild type bsr-d1 promoter at a ratio of 1:10,000. The results provided a novel method for potential applications in variety screen and breeding for rice blast resistance.

A simple, innovative yet cycle amplification-free strategy was developed for highly sensitive fluorescence detection of activity of DNA methyltransferases and inhibitors, in which cDNA-based extension of potato virus X was used. Briefly, a partial hybrid double strand DNA (dsDNA) probe with the sequence of 5′-GATC-3′ was methylated and cleaved into four parts by dam MTase and DpnI. The newborn 5′-termini of the dsDNA complemented to 3′-end of viral cDNA and initiated dsDNA synthesis by DNA polymerase. The dsDNA product of about 6430-bp-long combined with SG and strong green fluorescence could be detected. However, in the absence of dam MTase, methylation/cleavage could not be initiated and viral cDNA was digested by Exonuclease I, and no fluorescence signal was observed. A correlation between the fluorescence intensity and dam MTase activity was obtained in a range from 0.025 to 5 U/mL of dam MTase, and the detection limit was 0.0087 U/mL. The inhibition study indicated that gentamicin and 5-flurouracil could inhibit the dam MTase activity with IC50 values of 2.24 μM and 2.75 μM, respectively. The proposed assay showed the potential as an accessible platform for simple, rapid and sensitive detection of DNA MTase activity and screening its inhibitors.

Cancer therapies based on reactive oxygen species (ROS) have emerged as promising clinical treatments. Electrochemiluminescence (ECL) technology has also attracted considerable attention in the field of clinical diagnosis. However, studies about the integration of ECL diagnosis and ROS cancer therapy are very rare. Here we introduce a novel strategy that employs ECL technology and ROS to fill the above vacancy. Briefly, an ITO electrode was electrodeposited with polyluminol–Pt NPs composite films and modified with aptamer DNA to capture HL-60 cancer cells with high specificity. After that, mesoporous silica nanoparticles (MSNs) filled with phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate (PMA) were closed by the telomerase primer DNA (T-primer DNA) and aptamer. After aptamer on MSN@PMA recognized and combined with the HL-60 cancer cells with high specificity, T-primer DNA on MSN@PMA could be moved away from the MSN@PMA surface after extension by telomerase in the HL-60 cancer cells and PMA was released to induce the production of ROS by the HL-60 cancer cells. After that, the polyluminol–Pt NPs composite films could react with hydrogen peroxide (a major ROS) and generate an ECL signal. Thus the intracellular telomerase activity of the HL-60 cancer cells could be detected in situ. Besides, ROS could induce apoptosis in the HL-60 cancer cells with high efficacy by causing oxidative damage to the lipids, protein, and DNA. Above all, the designed platform could not only detect intracellular telomerase activity instead of that of extracted telomerase, but could also kill targeted tumors by ECL technology and ROS.

Transition metallic phosphides (TMPs) have attracted considerable attention for use as efficient and durable electrocatalysts for the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). However, it is still challenging for TMPs to achieve HER performance similar to that of the state-of-the-art platinum (Pt) catalysts. Herein, we report new amorphous phosphatized ruthenium-iron bimetallic nanoclusters (RuxFeyP-NCs) supported on graphitized carbon nanofibers (CNF), synthesized through a facile two-step method, which combine the merits of several catalyst design strategies. The amorphous structure allows more catalytically active sites to be exposed, and the synergy between Ru and Fe may boost the intrinsic catalytic activity. Moreover, the conductive CNF support facilitates electron transport and firmly immobilizes RuxFeyP-NCs enabling a long-term stability. The resulting RuxFeyP-NCs/CNF with optimal equimolar Ru and Fe (i.e. RuFeP-NCs/CNF) exhibits outstanding Pt-like HER performance, requiring low overpotentials of 65.8 and 16.0 mV to deliver a current density of 10 mA cm−2 in acidic and alkaline solutions, respectively, and showing a long-term stability of 100 h. The density functional theory (DFT) calculations demonstrate that RuFeP-NCs/CNF shows Gibbs free energy of hydrogen adsorption close to that of Pt and much smaller than that of FeP-NCs/CNF and RuxFey-NCs/CNF controls with non-equimolar Ru/Fe, which rationally explains the experimentally observed prominent HER performance of RuFeP-NCs/CNF.

An electrochemiluminescence (ECL) resonance energy transfer system is constructed for 17β-estradiol (E2) detection using α-FeOOH@CdS nanospheres as the ECL-active substrates and Ag NCs as an efficient quencher. CdS QDs loaded onto three-dimensional (3D) urchin-like α-FeOOH nanospheres (α-FeOOH@CdS nanospheres) exhibited excellent ECL responses, which is attributed to dual-amplification of α-FeOOH frameworks. The 3D hierarchical structure of the α-FeOOH nanospheres provided abundant sites for loading ECL-active species, thus significantly improving the ECL performance of substrates; While Fe3+ presented on surface of α-FeOOH nanospheres could be reduced to Fe2+ in negative potentials, after which might activate persulfate in a Fenton-like process, resulting in more sulfate free radicals for more effective ECL responses via electron transfer reactions. Additionally, Ag nanoclusters (Ag NCs) stabilized by single stranded oligonucleotide were introduced as quenching probes for CdS QDs owing to the well-matched donor-acceptor spectrum for efficient energy transfer, which makes them appropriate for detection of E2. The proposed strategy displayed a desirable dynamic range from 0.01 to 10 pg mL−1 with a limit of detection of 0.003 pg mL−1. The proposed strategy based on the ECL-RET strategy offered an ideal way for E2 detection, and also revealed an alternative platform for detection of other small molecules.

The first simple and sensitive method for fluorescent detection of zucchini yellow mosaic virus (ZYMV) was developed in this study. ZYMV cDNA was used as the template for recombinase polymerase amplification. Terminals of one strand of the dsDNA product were joined by T4 DNA ligase. All linear DNA were digested by T5 exonuclease in solution, while single-stranded cyclic DNA (sscDNA) was intact and was used as the template for enzyme-assisted signal amplification (EASA). Probe 1 was designed with FAM and BHQ bound at its 5′- and 3′-ends, respectively, and the recognition sequence of Nb.BbvCⅠ was in the middle. Probe 1 was hybridised with sscDNA and cleaved into two fragments during EASA. The fluorescence signal in the final solution was detected. The target DNA was amplified twice, and the detection limit of our assay was calculated to be 0.01 pg. This method demonstrates satisfactory selectivity and reproducibility and can be used in practical applications. Additionally, we found that linear DNA could be digested completely by T5 exonuclease at room temperature (approximately 22–24 °C) within 5 min.

An amplified fluorescence biosensing strategy for serum prostate specific antigen (PSA) was developed on the basis of DNAzyme. In presence of cofactor Zn2+, Zn2+ -dependent DNAzyme could cleave the hairpin substrate probes which were dispersed in solution and generate remarkable fluorescent signal. Taking advantage of the magnetic beads as a carrier, one target protein could bring plentiful hairpin substrate probes on to the electrode through a sandwich structure (Ab1/PSA/biotin-Ab2). Moreover, during the cleavage process of as formed DNAzyme, DNAzyme did not be destroyed and could further react with other hairpin probes, then generated continuous fluorescent signal. Benefited by this amplified strategy, the limit of detection (LOD) was low to 0.05 ng mL−1, which was much lower than our previous reports. This method could be applied to detect different protein biomarkers in serum without corresponding aptamers by changing the corresponding antibodies and thus showed a remarkable prospect in clinical application.