A rapid nucleic acid detection platform based on phosphorothioate-DNA and sulfur binding domain

Yuting Shuai; Yi Ju; Yuanhang Li; Dini Ma; Lan Jiang; Jingyu Zhang; Gao-Yi Tan; Xueting Liu; Shenlin Wang; Lixin Zhang; Guang Liu

doi:10.1016/j.synbio.2023.02.002

A rapid nucleic acid detection platform based on phosphorothioate-DNA and sulfur binding domain

Synth Syst Biotechnol. 2023 Feb 11;8(2):213-219. doi: 10.1016/j.synbio.2023.02.002. eCollection 2023 Jun.

Authors

Yuting Shuai¹, Yi Ju¹, Yuanhang Li¹, Dini Ma^{1

2}, Lan Jiang¹, Jingyu Zhang¹, Gao-Yi Tan¹, Xueting Liu¹, Shenlin Wang¹, Lixin Zhang¹, Guang Liu^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ State Key Laboratory of Bioreactor Engineering, and School of Biotechnology, East China University of Science and Technology (ECUST), Shanghai, 200237, China.
² State Key Laboratory of Microbial Metabolism, Joint International Research Laboratory of Metabolic &Developmental Sciences, School of Life Sciences & Biotechnology, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, 200240, China.

Abstract

Nucleic acid detection plays a key role in diverse diagnosis and disease control. Currently available nucleic acid detection techniques are challenged by trade-offs among speed, simplicity, precision and cost. Here, we described a novel method, designated SENSOR (Sulfur DNA mediated nucleic acid sensing platform), for rapid nucleic acid detection. SENSOR was developed from phosphorothioate (PT)-DNA and sulfur binding domain (SBD) which specifically binds double-stranded PT-modified DNA. SENSOR utilizes PT-DNA oligo and SBD as targeting module, which is linked with split luciferase reporter to generate luminescence signal within 10 min. We tested detection on synthesized nucleic acid and COVID-19 pseudovirus, achieving attomolar sensitivity combined with an amplification procedure. Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) could also be discriminated. Indicating SENSOR a new promising nucleic acid detection technique.

Keywords: Nucleic acid detection; Phosphorothioate; Sulfur binding domain.