Zandieh Mohamad, Luo Xin, Zhao Yu, Feng Chuanliang, Liu Juewen
Department of Chemistry, Waterloo Institute for Nanotechnology, University of Waterloo, 200 University Avenue West, Waterloo, Ontario, N2L 3G1, Canada.
College of Bioengineering and Food Science, Hubei University of Technology, Wuhan, 430068, China.
Angew Chem Int Ed Engl. 2024 Nov 29;64(11):e202421438. doi: 10.1002/anie.202421438.
Plastics are critical materials for modern technological applications, yet environmental contamination by microplastics has become a growing concern. In this study, DNA aptamers were isolated for two of the most abundant plastic materials: polyvinylchloride (PVC) and polystyrene (PS). These aptamers contain approximately 90 % cytosine and thymine but only 10 % purine content. Among them, the PVC-1 aptamer binds to PVC with a six-fold higher capacity than a random sequenced DNA. Among the tested plastic materials, PVC and PS exhibited the highest specific binding capacity. Using fluorophore-labeled PVC-1 aptamer, PS/PVC microplastics as low as 1 mg were detected, and the aptamer was selective for microplastics over other environmentally relevant materials, such as silica. Molecular dynamics simulations indicated that the aptamer attempted to maximize contact with the plastic surface for adsorption. This plastic-binding aptamer is expected to find applications in environmental monitoring and has fundamental implications for surface-binding aptamers.
塑料是现代技术应用中的关键材料，但微塑料对环境的污染已日益引起关注。在本研究中，针对两种最常见的塑料材料：聚氯乙烯（PVC）和聚苯乙烯（PS），分离出了DNA适配体。这些适配体约含90%的胞嘧啶和胸腺嘧啶，但嘌呤含量仅为10%。其中，PVC-1适配体与PVC结合的能力比随机测序的DNA高六倍。在所测试的塑料材料中，PVC和PS表现出最高的特异性结合能力。使用荧光团标记的PVC-1适配体，可检测到低至1毫克的PS/PVC微塑料，且该适配体对微塑料的选择性高于其他与环境相关的材料，如二氧化硅。分子动力学模拟表明，适配体试图通过与塑料表面的最大接触来实现吸附。这种塑料结合适配体有望在环境监测中得到应用，并对表面结合适配体具有重要的基础意义。
