One-by-one single-molecule counting method for digital quantification of SARS-CoV-2 RNA

Weiliang Liu; Desheng Chen; Hongru Pian; Fengxia Su; Hui Wang; Pengbo Zhang; Zhengping Li

doi:10.1016/j.nantod.2022.101664

One-by-one single-molecule counting method for digital quantification of SARS-CoV-2 RNA

Nano Today. 2022 Dec:47:101664. doi: 10.1016/j.nantod.2022.101664. Epub 2022 Oct 31.

Authors

Weiliang Liu¹, Desheng Chen¹, Hongru Pian¹, Fengxia Su¹, Hui Wang¹, Pengbo Zhang¹, Zhengping Li¹

Affiliation

¹ Beijing Key Laboratory for Bioengineering and Sensing Technology, School of Chemistry and Biological Engineering, University of Science and Technology Beijing, 30 Xueyuan Road, Haidian District, Beijing 100083, PR China.

Abstract

Digital counting individual nucleic acid molecule is of great significance for fundamental biological research and accurate diagnosis of genetic diseases, which is hard to achieve with existing single-molecule detection technologies. Herein, we report a novel one-by-one single-molecule counting method for digital quantification of SARS-Cov-2 RNA. This method uses one fluorescent micromotor functionalized with peptide nucleic acids (PNAs) to specially capture one target RNA molecule. The RNA-micromotors can be propelled by the electric field to target district and accurately counted. Moreover, the method can also clearly discriminate one-base mutation in the target RNAs, indicating the great potential for clinical diagnostics and virus traceability survey.

Keywords: Digital quantification; Electric-field propelled; Fluorescent micromotors; SARS-CoV-2 RNA; Single-molecule.