Real-time electrochemical detection of pathogen DNA using electrostatic interaction of a redox probe

Abstract

Electrostatic redox probes interaction has been widely rendered for DNA quantification. We have established a proof-of-principle by using the ruthenium hexaamine molecule [Ru(NH₃)₆]³⁺. We have applied this method for real-time electrochemical monitoring of a loop mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) amplicon of target genes of Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus by square wave voltammetry (SWV). Ruthenium hexaamine interaction with free DNAs in solution without being immobilized onto the biochip surface enabled us to discard the time-consuming overnight probe immobilization step in DNA quantification. We have measured the changes in the cathodic current signals using screen printed low-cost biochips both in the presence and the absence of LAMP amplicons of target DNAs in the solution-phase. By using this novel probe, we successfully carried out the real-time isothermal amplification and detection in less than 30 min for S. aureus and E. coli with a sensitivity up to 30 copies μL⁻¹ and 20 copies μL⁻¹, respectively. The cathode peak height of the current was related to the extent of amplicon formation and the amount of introduced template genomic DNA. Importantly, since laborious probe immobilization is not necessary at all, and both the in vitro amplification and real-time monitoring are performed in a single polypropylene tube using a single biochip, this novel approach could avoid all potential cross-contamination in the whole procedure.