School of Chemistry, University of Bristol, Bristol, United Kingdom.
Bristol Centre for Functional Nanomaterials, University of Bristol, Bristol, United Kingdom.
Front Cell Infect Microbiol. 2022 Jul 8;12:920447. doi: 10.3389/fcimb.2022.920447. eCollection 2022.
The rapid spread of antimicrobial resistant continues to pose a serious threat to global health. To successfully treat and control gonococcal infections, rapid diagnosis is critical. Currently, nucleic acid amplification tests are the recommended diagnostic, however, these are both technically demanding and time consuming, making them unsuitable for resource-poor clinics. Consequently, there is a substantial need for an affordable, point-of-care diagnostic to use in these settings. In this study, DNA-functionalised gold nanoparticles (gold nanoprobes), with the ability to specifically detect the DNA Uptake Sequence (DUS) of , were prepared. Using complementary annealing, the gold nanoprobes were shown to hybridise to genomic gonococcal DNA, causing a significant shift in their salt stability. By exploiting the shift in nanoprobe stability under the presence of target DNA, a solution-based colorimetric diagnostic for gonococcal DNA was prepared. Detection of purified genomic DNA was achieved in under 30 minutes, with a detection limit of 15.0 ng. Significantly, testing with DNA extracted from an off-target control organism suggested specificity for . These results highlight the potential of DUS-specific gold nanoprobes in the rapid point-of-care diagnosis of gonococcal infections.
抗菌药物耐药性的迅速传播继续对全球健康构成严重威胁。为了成功治疗和控制淋病感染，快速诊断至关重要。目前，核酸扩增检测被推荐用于诊断，但这些检测既要求技术高又费时，不适合资源匮乏的诊所。因此，迫切需要一种负担得起的、即时诊断检测方法，以便在这些环境中使用。在这项研究中，制备了具有特异性检测奈瑟菌 DNA 摄取序列（DUS）能力的 DNA 功能化金纳米粒子（金纳米探针）。通过互补退火，金纳米探针与淋球菌基因组 DNA 杂交，导致其盐稳定性发生显著变化。利用目标 DNA 存在下纳米探针稳定性的变化，制备了基于溶液的淋病奈瑟菌 DNA 比色诊断方法。在 30 分钟内即可检测到纯化的基因组 DNA，检测限为 15.0 ng。值得注意的是，用来自非靶标对照生物的提取 DNA 进行测试表明，该方法具有特异性。这些结果突出了 DUS 特异性金纳米探针在淋病奈瑟菌感染的快速即时诊断中的潜力。
