A reusable optical biosensor for the ultrasensitive and selective detection of unamplified human genomic DNA with gold nanostars

A Surface Plasmon Resonance imaging (SPRi) based DNA sensors for the selective and ultrasensitive human genomic DNA detection, directly extracted from lymphocytes (bypassing PCR amplification), is reported. To achieve DNA detection, a rationally chosen star-shaped nanoparticle (NP), namely gold nanostar (AuNS), has been applied, for the first time, in a sandwich-like assay based on the selective capturing of specific DNA targets and the subsequent signal amplification by a secondary DNA probe linked to AuNS. The plasmonic profile, size and electric field enhancements at the star tips contributed to the maximization of plasmon coupling between LSPs and SPs as aimed for analytical signal magnification. The system was first tested using short synthetic DNA target sequences and applied to DNA biosensing, lowering 610-fold the detection limit from 6.1nM (without NSs labeling) to 10pM (with NSs labeling). Then the biosensor was applied to genomic DNA samples, extracted from human lymphocytes and undergoing only to a simple ultrasonic fragmentation, lowering (~435 fold) the detection limit from 3.0fM (without NSs labeling) to 6.9aM (with NSs labeling). Thanks to the assay optimization, we proved that tuning the NSs surface coverage with DNA linked to nanoparticles is crucial not only for the increase of signals but also for the regenerability/reusability of the biosensor for tens of measurement cycles.