Manochehry Sepehr, McConnell Erin M, Tram Kha Q, Macri Joseph, Li Yingfu
Department of Biochemistry and Biomedical Sciences, McMaster University Hamilton, ON, Canada.
Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, McMaster University Hamilton, ON, Canada.
Front Chem. 2018 Aug 9;6:332. doi: 10.3389/fchem.2018.00332. eCollection 2018.
Ingestion of water containing toxic contaminants above levels deemed safe for human consumption can occur unknowingly since numerous common contaminants in drinking water are colorless and odorless. Uranyl is particularly problematic as it has been found at dangerous levels in sources of drinking water. Detection of this heavy metal-ion species in drinking water currently requires sending a sample to a laboratory where trained personnel use equipment to perform the analysis and turn-around times can be long. A pH-responsive colorimetric biosensor was developed to enable detection of uranyl in water which coupled the uranyl-specific 39E DNAzyme as a recognition element, and an enzyme capable of producing a pH change as the reporter element. The rapid colorimetric assay presented herein can detect uranyl in lake and well water at concentrations relevant for environmental monitoring, as demonstrated by the detection of uranyl at levels below the limits set for drinking water by major regulatory agencies including the World Health Organization (30 μg/L). This simple and inexpensive DNAzyme-based assay enabled equipment-free visual detection of 15 μg/L uranyl, using both solution-based and paper-based pH-dependent visualization strategies.
由于饮用水中的许多常见污染物无色无味，人们可能在不知不觉中摄入了含有超过人类安全饮用水平的有毒污染物的水。铀酰尤其成问题，因为在饮用水源中发现其含量已达到危险水平。目前，检测饮用水中的这种重金属离子需要将样品送到实验室，由经过培训的人员使用设备进行分析，而且周转时间可能很长。开发了一种pH响应比色生物传感器，用于检测水中的铀酰，该传感器将铀酰特异性39E脱氧核酶作为识别元件，将一种能够产生pH变化的酶作为报告元件。本文介绍的快速比色测定法可以检测湖泊水和井水铀酰的浓度，这些浓度与环境监测相关，世界卫生组织等主要监管机构设定的饮用水限值（30μg/L）以下的铀酰检测就证明了这一点。这种基于脱氧核酶的简单且廉价的测定法，使用基于溶液和基于纸张的pH依赖性可视化策略，能够在无设备的情况下目视检测15μg/L的铀酰。
