Affiliations 

  • 1 Department of Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and Science, Curtin University Malaysia, Miri, Sarawak, Malaysia
  • 2 Department of Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and Science, Curtin University Malaysia, Miri, Sarawak, Malaysia. Electronic address: johnlsy@curtin.edu.my
  • 3 Department of Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and Science, Curtin University Malaysia, Miri, Sarawak, Malaysia; Zuckerberg Institute for Water Research (ZIWR), The Jacob Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Midreshet Ben-Gurion, 84990, Israel
  • 4 Department of Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and Science, Curtin University Malaysia, Miri, Sarawak, Malaysia; Sarawak Biovalley Pilot Plant, Curtin University Malaysia, CDT 250, 98009, Miri, Sarawak, Malaysia
  • 5 School of Molecular and Life Sciences, Curtin University, Bentley, Western Australia, Australia
  • 6 Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, Faculty of Pharmacy, Universiti Malaya, 50603, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
  • 7 Department of Electrical Engineering, College of Technical and Engineering, West Tehran Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran
  • 8 Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Science, Tonekabon Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tonekabon, Iran
Anal Biochem, 2024 Aug 08;695:115639.
PMID: 39127327 DOI: 10.1016/j.ab.2024.115639

Abstract

Each year, millions of people suffer from foodborne illness due to the consumption of food contaminated with pathogenic bacteria, which severely challenges global health. Therefore, it is essential to recognize foodborne pathogens swiftly and correctly. However, conventional detection techniques for bacterial pathogens are labor-intensive, low selectivity, and time-consuming, highlighting a notable knowledge gap. A novel approach, aptamer-based biosensors (aptasensors) linked to carbon nanomaterials (CNs), has shown the potential to overcome these limitations and provide a more reliable method for detecting bacterial pathogens. Aptamers, short single-stranded DNA (ssDNA)/RNA molecules, serve as bio-recognition elements (BRE) due to their exceptionally high affinity and specificity in identifying foodborne pathogens such as Salmonella spp., Escherichia coli (E. coli), Listeria monocytogenes, Campylobacter jejuni, and other relevant pathogens commonly associated with foodborne illnesses. Carbon nanomaterials' high surface area-to-volume ratio contributes unique characteristics crucial for bacterial sensing, as it improves the binding capacity and signal amplification in the design of aptasensors. Furthermore, aptamers can bind to CNs and create aptasensors with improved signal specificity and sensitivity. Hence, this review intends to critically review the current literature on developing aptamer functionalized CN-based biosensors by transducer optical and electrochemical for detecting foodborne pathogens and explore the advantages and challenges associated with these biosensors. Aptasensors conjugated with CNs offers an efficient tool for identifying foodborne pathogenic bacteria that is both precise and sensitive to potentially replacing complex current techniques that are time-consuming.

* Title and MeSH Headings from MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine.