Department of Chemistry , University of Oxford, Chemistry Research Laboratory , 12 Mansfield Road , Oxford , OX1 3TA , U.K.
Chemistry Branch, Department of Science and Mathematics, Faculty of Petroleum and Mining Engineering , Suez University , Suez 43721 , Egypt.
ACS Nano. 2018 Jun 26;12(6):6273-6279. doi: 10.1021/acsnano.8b03261. Epub 2018 Jun 6.
The development of innovative technologies to rapidly detect biomarkers associated with nutritional deficiencies in crops is highly relevant to agriculture and thus could impact the future of food security. Zinc (Zn) is an important micronutrient in plants, and deficiency leads to poor health, quality, and yield of crops. We have developed portable sensors, based on graphene oxide and upconversion nanoparticles, which could be used in the early detection of Zn deficiency in crops, sensing mRNAs encoding members of the ZIP-transporter family in crops. ZIPs are membrane transport proteins, some of which are up-regulated at the early stages of Zn deficiency, and they are part of the biological mechanism by which crops respond to nutritional deficiency. The principle of these sensors is based on the intensity of the optical output resulting from the interaction of oligonucleotide-coated upconversion nanoparticles and graphene oxide in the absence or presence of a specific oligonucleotide target. The sensors can reliably detect mRNAs in RNA extracts from plants using a smartphone camera. Our work introduces the development of accurate and highly sensitive sensors for use in the field to determine crop nutrient status and ultimately facilitate economically important nutrient management decisions.
开发创新技术以快速检测与作物营养缺乏相关的生物标志物与农业密切相关，因此可能会影响未来的粮食安全。锌（Zn）是植物中的一种重要微量营养素，缺乏会导致作物健康状况不佳、质量下降和产量降低。我们已经开发出基于氧化石墨烯和上转换纳米粒子的便携式传感器，可用于早期检测作物缺锌，感应编码作物 ZIP 转运蛋白家族成员的 mRNA。ZIP 是膜转运蛋白，其中一些在缺锌的早期阶段被上调，它们是作物响应营养缺乏的生物学机制的一部分。这些传感器的原理基于寡核苷酸包覆的上转换纳米粒子与氧化石墨烯在不存在或存在特定寡核苷酸靶子时相互作用产生的光输出强度。传感器可以使用智能手机摄像头可靠地检测来自植物的 RNA 提取物中的 mRNA。我们的工作介绍了用于现场确定作物营养状况的精确和高灵敏度传感器的开发，最终有助于做出经济上重要的营养管理决策。
