DNA-based nanobiosensors for monitoring of water quality

Abstract

Water pollution is a global concern for human and environmental health. As technology and industries have developed over the past decades, increasingly more complex and diverse pollutants are found even in treated waters. For better management of water resources, continuous and efficient monitoring is needed to detect the broad range of contaminants. Biosensors have the potential to meet this challenge and to overcome the limitations of the conventional methods used for water analysis. They combine a biological recognition element to a transducer in a sensitive and robust device, capable of specific detection of molecules of interest. DNA-based sensing technologies meet this set of specifications and benefit from the progress made in nanoscience and nanotechnology. This mini-review proposes an overview of this upcoming new generation of DNA-based biosensors, focusing on promising innovations having for portable, stable, rapid and sensitive devices for water quality monitoring.

Keywords: Aptamer; Biosensor; DNAzyme; Environmental contaminant; Nanotechnologies; Single molecule detection.