Science Sub-Journal: DNA sensor that can quickly determine whether a virus is infectious

A new sensor can not only detect the presence of a virus, but also detect whether it is contagious-this is an important difference in curbing the spread of the virus

Researchers and collaborators at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign developed this sensor, which integrates specially designed DNA fragments and nanopore sensing, without pre-processing the sample, within minutes Lock and detect infectious viruses

Professor Emeritus Lu Yi of Chemistry and Professor Benito Marinas of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Professor Rong Lijun of the University of Illinois at Chicago led the work; Professor Omar Azzaroni of the National University of La Plata, Argentina; and María Eugenia Toimil- Molares, from the German GSI Helmholtz Heavy Ion Research Center

Ana Peinetti, the first author of the study, said: "The infectious status is very important information.

As the "gold standard" for virus testing, PCR testing can detect viral genetic material, but it cannot distinguish whether a sample is infectious or judge whether a person is infectious

"For the virus that causes COVID-19, research has shown that the level of viral RNA has little correlation with the infectivity of the virus

The test for detecting infectious viruses is called the plaque test.

The ability to distinguish between infectious and non-infectious viruses and the detection of a small amount of unprocessed samples may contain other contaminants is not only important for rapid diagnosis of patients who are still infectious in the early stages of infection or after treatment, but for environmental monitoring , Said the dock

Marinas said: "We chose human adenovirus to display our sensors because it is an emerging water-borne viral pathogen, which has attracted attention in the United States and the world

The researchers say that this sensing technology can be applied to other viruses to target different pathogens by adjusting their DNA

Researchers are working to further improve the sensitivity and selectivity of sensors, and integrate their DNA aptamers with other detection methods, such as color-changing test strips or sensors on smartphones, to eliminate the need for special equipment

Marinas said: “In addition, aptamer technology can be further developed into a multi-channel platform for detecting other emerging water-borne viral pathogens that cause public and environmental health problems, such as norovirus and enterovirus, or cause A virus variant of COVID-19

Original search:

"Direct detection of human adenovirus and SARS-CoV-2 with ability to inform infectivity using a DNA aptamer-nanopore sensor"

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