Rapid detection and quantification of aminoglycoside phosphorylation products using direct-infusion high-resolution and ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry

Label-free fluorescence displacement sensors based on split aptamers and Thioflavin T for the rapid and sensitive detection of kanamycin in milk

Kanamycin (KANA) plays a key role in the treatment of bacterial infections and has been widely used in animal husbandry. However, its overuse causes antibiotic residues in animal-derived foods. Determination methods for KANA are urgently needed for food safety. Most of the developed fluorescent aptamer sensors for detecting KANA use parental aptamer (kana-Apt) as recognition unit. However, excessive bases tend to form secondary structures and lead to high background or nonspecific signals. In this study, two fluorescent sensors based on one (kana1-Apt) and two (kana1/kana2-Apt) split fragments were developed for KANA detection. The LODs of the kana1-Apt/ThT system and kana1/kana2-Apt/ThT systems were 4.88 nM and 4.53 nM, respectively. In addition, satisfactory recoveries of the kana1-Apt/ThT system and kana1/kana2-Apt/ThT system were obtained in the detection of KANA in milk, which were 97.6%-104.5% and 98.4%-105.9%, respectively. Moreover, the results indicated that the kana1-Apt fragment plays a critical role in recognition. In conclusion, the results of the present study provide a novel strategy for molecular detection based on split aptamers.

A fluorescent aptasensor for enzyme-free and sensitive detection of kanamycin based on entropy-driven strand displacement reaction

BACKGROUND

Kanamycin is an antibiotic that can easily cause adverse side effects if used improperly. Due to the extremely low concentrations of kanamycin in food, quantitative detection of kanamycin becomes a challenge. As one of the DNA self-assembly strategies, entropy-driven strand displacement reaction (EDSDR) does not require enzymes or hairpins to participate in the reaction, which greatly reduces the instability of detection results. Therefore, it is a very beneficial attempt to construct a highly sensitive and specific fluorescence detection method based on EDSDR that can detect kanamycin easily and quickly while ensuring that the results are effective and stable.

RESULTS

We created an enzyme-free fluorescent aptamer sensor with high specificity and sensitivity for detecting kanamycin in milk by taking advantage of EDSDR and the high specific binding between the target and its aptamer. The specific binding can result in the release of the promoter chain, which then sets off the pre-planned EDSDR cycle. Fluorescent label modification on DNA combined with the fluorescence quenching-recovery mechanism gives the sensor impressive fluorescence response capabilities. The research results showed that within the concentration range of 0.1 nM-50 nM, there was a good relationship between the fluorescence intensity of the solution and the concentration of kanamycin. Specificity experiments and actual sample detection experiments confirmed that the biosensor could achieve highly sensitive and specific detection of trace amounts of kanamycin in food, with a detection limit of 0.053 nM (S/N = 3).

SIGNIFICANCE

To our knowledge, this is the first strategy to combine EDSDR with fluorescence to detect kanamycin in food. Accurate results can be obtained in as little as 90 min with no enzymes or hairpins involved in the reaction. Furthermore, our enzyme-free biosensing method is straightforward, highly sensitive, and extremely specific. It has many possible applications, including monitoring antibiotic residues and food safety.

Rapid Quantification of Ammonium Nitrate and Urea Nitrate Using Liquid Chromatography-High-Resolution Orbitrap Mass Spectrometry

Resolution and sensitivity improvements in mass spectrometry technology have enabled renewed attempts at solving challenging analytical issues. One such issue involves the analysis of energetic ionic species. Energetic ionic species make up an important class of chemical materials, and a more robust and versatile analytical platform would provide tremendous value to the analytical community. Initial attempts at quantification of energetic ionic species employed high-resolution time-of-flight measurements with crown ether (CE) complexation and flow injection analysis (FIA). In this investigation, ammonium nitrate (AN) and urea nitrate (UN) in the presence of a crown ether complexation agent were explored by using high-resolution orbitrap mass spectrometry. Product ion scans of these signature complexes reveal positive identification of these energetic ionic species. Finally, quantification was demonstrated for both flow injection and liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS) analysis, suggesting the capability for routine and rapid analysis of these energetic ionic materials.

A competitive colorimetric aptasensor for simple and sensitive detection of kanamycin based on terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase-mediated signal amplification strategy

We developed a rapid and sensitive colorimetric biosensor based on competitive recognition between kanamycin (KAN), magnetic beads-kanamycin (MBs-KAN) and aptamer and terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase (TdT)-mediated signal amplification strategy. In the absence of KAN, aptamers recognize MBs-KAN. TdT can amplify oligonucleotides to the 3'-OH ends of aptamers, with biotin-dUTP being embedded in the long single stranded DNA (ssDNA). Then the assay produced visual readout due to the horseradish peroxidase (HRP)-catalyzed color change of the substrate after the linkage between biotin and streptavidin (SA)-HRP. In the presence of KAN, however, aptamers tend to bind free KAN rather than MBs-KAN. In this case, aptamers are isolated by magnetic separation, resulting in the failure of signal amplification and catalytic signals. This competitive colorimetric sensor showed excellent selectivity toward KAN with the limit of detection (LOD) as low as 9 pM. And recovery values were between 93.8 and 107.8% when spiked KAN in milk and honey samples.