College of Chemistry, Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, Collaborative Innovation Center of Functionalized Probes for Chemical Imaging in Universities of Shandong, Key Laboratory of Molecular and Nano Probes, Ministry of Education, Shandong Provincial Key Laboratory of Clean Production of Fine Chemicals, Shandong Normal University , Jinan 250014, China.
Medical School, Shenzhen University , Shenzhen 518060, China.
Acc Chem Res. 2016 Sep 20;49(9):1722-30. doi: 10.1021/acs.accounts.6b00237. Epub 2016 Sep 1.
Biosensors for highly sensitive, selective, and rapid quantification of specific biomolecules make great contributions to biomedical research, especially molecular diagnostics. However, conventional methods for biomolecular assays often suffer from insufficient sensitivity and poor specificity. In some case (e.g., early disease diagnostics), the concentration of target biomolecules is too low to be detected by these routine approaches, and cumbersome procedures are needed to improve the detection sensitivity. Therefore, there is an urgent need for rapid and ultrasensitive analytical tools. In this respect, single-molecule fluorescence approaches may well satisfy the requirement and hold promising potential for the development of ultrasensitive biosensors. Encouragingly, owing to the advances in single-molecule microscopy and spectroscopy over past decades, the detection of single fluorescent molecule comes true, greatly boosting the development of highly sensitive biosensors. By in vitro/in vivo labeling of target biomolecules with proper fluorescent tags, the quantification of certain biomolecule at the single-molecule level is achieved. In comparison with conventional ensemble measurements, single-molecule detection-based analytical methods possess the advantages of ultrahigh sensitivity, good selectivity, rapid analysis time, and low sample consumption. Consequently, single-molecule detection may be potentially employed as an ideal analytical approach to quantify low-abundant biomolecules with rapidity and simplicity. In this Account, we will summarize our efforts for developing a series of ultrasensitive biosensors based on single-molecule counting. Single-molecule counting is a member of single-molecule detection technologies and may be used as a very simple and ultrasensitive method to quantify target molecules by simply counting the individual fluorescent bursts. In the fluorescent sensors, the signals of target biomolecules may be translated to the fluorescence signals by specific in vitro/in vivo fluorescent labeling, and consequently, the fluorescent molecules indicate the presence of target molecules. The resultant fluorescence signals may be simply counted by either microfluidic device-integrated confocal microscopy or total internal reflection fluorescence-based single-molecule imaging. We have developed a series of single-molecule counting-based biosensors which can be classified as separation-free and separation-assisted assays. As a proof-of-concept, we demonstrate the applications of single-molecule counting-based biosensors for sensitive detection of various target biomolecules such as DNAs, miRNAs, proteins, enzymes, and intact cells, which may function as the disease-related biomarkers. Moreover, we give a summary of future directions to expand the usability of single-molecule counting-based biosensors including (1) the development of more user-friendly and automated instruments, (2) the discovery of new fluorescent labels and labeling strategies, and (3) the introduction of new concepts for the design of novel biosensors. Due to their high sensitivity, good selectivity, rapidity, and simplicity, we believe that the single-molecule counting-based fluorescent biosensors will indubitably find wide applications in biological research, clinical diagnostics, and drug discovery.
生物传感器在高度敏感、选择性和快速定量特定生物分子方面做出了巨大贡献,尤其在分子诊断方面。然而,传统的生物分子分析方法往往存在灵敏度不足和特异性差的问题。在某些情况下(例如早期疾病诊断),目标生物分子的浓度太低,常规方法无法检测到,并且需要繁琐的步骤来提高检测灵敏度。因此,迫切需要快速和超灵敏的分析工具。在这方面,单分子荧光方法可能很好地满足要求,并为超灵敏生物传感器的发展提供了广阔的前景。令人鼓舞的是,由于过去几十年中单分子显微镜和光谱学的进步,单分子荧光的检测成为现实,极大地推动了高灵敏度生物传感器的发展。通过将目标生物分子与适当的荧光标记物进行体外/体内标记,可以在单分子水平上实现对特定生物分子的定量。与传统的集合测量相比,基于单分子检测的分析方法具有超高灵敏度、良好选择性、快速分析时间和低样品消耗的优点。因此,单分子检测可能有望作为一种理想的分析方法,快速、简单地定量低丰度生物分子。本综述总结了我们在开发基于单分子计数的一系列超灵敏生物传感器方面的努力。单分子计数是单分子检测技术的成员之一,可通过简单地计数单个荧光爆发,用作非常简单和超灵敏的方法来定量目标分子。在荧光传感器中,目标生物分子的信号可以通过特定的体外/体内荧光标记物转化为荧光信号,因此,荧光分子指示目标分子的存在。通过微流控装置集成共焦显微镜或全内反射荧光单分子成像,简单地对产生的荧光信号进行计数。我们已经开发了一系列基于单分子计数的生物传感器,这些传感器可分为无分离和分离辅助检测。作为概念验证,我们展示了基于单分子计数的生物传感器在检测各种目标生物分子(如 DNA、miRNA、蛋白质、酶和完整细胞)方面的应用,这些生物分子可作为疾病相关生物标志物。此外,我们总结了扩展基于单分子计数的生物传感器可用性的未来方向,包括(1)开发更用户友好和自动化的仪器,(2)发现新的荧光标记物和标记策略,以及(3)引入新的概念来设计新型生物传感器。由于其高灵敏度、良好的选择性、快速性和简单性,我们相信基于单分子计数的荧光生物传感器将在生物研究、临床诊断和药物发现中得到广泛应用。
Acc Chem Res. 2016-9-1
Chem Commun (Camb). 2021-12-14
Methods Mol Biol. 2024
Anal Chim Acta. 2024-4-15
Adv Exp Med Biol. 2012
Chem Biomed Imaging. 2023-4-13
ACS Appl Mater Interfaces. 2023-7-19
Biosensors (Basel). 2023-1-30
Biosensors (Basel). 2022-8-26