Palchetti Ilaria, Mascini Marco
Dipartimento di Chimica, Università degli studi di Firenze, Via della Lastruccia 3, 50019, Sesto, Fiorentino, Italy.
Analyst. 2008 Jul;133(7):846-54. doi: 10.1039/b802920m. Epub 2008 Jun 2.
Nucleic acid-based biosensors are finding increasing use for the detection of environmental pollution and toxicity. A biosensor is defined as a compact analytical device incorporating a biological or biologically-derived sensing element either integrated within or intimately associated with a physicochemical transducer. A nucleic acid-based biosensor employs as the sensing element an oligonucleotide, with a known sequence of bases, or a complex structure of DNA or RNA. Nucleic acid biosensors can be used to detect DNA/RNA fragments or either biological or chemical species. In the first application, DNA/RNA is the analyte and it is detected through the hybridization reaction (this kind of biosensor is also called a genosensor). In the second application, DNA/RNA plays the role of the receptor of specific biological and/or chemical species, such as target proteins, pollutants or drugs. Recent advances in the development and applications of nucleic acid-based biosensors for environmental application are reviewed in this article with special emphasis on functional nucleic acid elements (aptamers, DNAzymes, aptazymes) and lab-on-a-chip technology.
基于核酸的生物传感器在环境污染和毒性检测中的应用越来越广泛。生物传感器被定义为一种紧凑的分析装置，它包含一个生物或生物衍生的传感元件，该元件要么集成在物理化学换能器内，要么与物理化学换能器紧密相连。基于核酸的生物传感器采用具有已知碱基序列的寡核苷酸或DNA或RNA的复杂结构作为传感元件。核酸生物传感器可用于检测DNA/RNA片段或生物或化学物质。在第一种应用中，DNA/RNA是分析物，通过杂交反应进行检测（这种生物传感器也称为基因传感器）。在第二种应用中，DNA/RNA充当特定生物和/或化学物质（如靶蛋白、污染物或药物）的受体。本文综述了基于核酸的生物传感器在环境应用方面的开发和应用的最新进展，特别强调了功能性核酸元件（适体、脱氧核酶、适体酶）和芯片实验室技术。
