Virus lasers for biological detection.
basic_science · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 31399594.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1038/s41467-019-11604-z and PMC identifier 6689004.
- Licence recorded as CC BY.
- The licence permits redistribution, so the abstract is shown in full and the full text is available from the publisher.
Abstract
The selective amplification of DNA in the polymerase chain reaction is used to exponentially increase the signal in molecular diagnostics for nucleic acids, but there are no analogous techniques for signal enhancement in clinical tests for proteins or cells. Instead, the signal from affinity-based measurements of these biomolecules depends linearly on the probe concentration. Substituting antibody-based probes tagged for fluorescent quantification with lasing detection probes would create a new platform for biomarker quantification based on optical rather than enzymatic amplification. Here, we construct a virus laser which bridges synthetic biology and laser physics, and demonstrate virus-lasing probes for biosensing. Our virus-lasing probes display an unprecedented > 10,000 times increase in signal from only a 50% increase in probe concentration, using fluorimeter-compatible optics, and can detect biomolecules at sub-100 fmol mL<sup>-1</sup> concentrations.
Medical subject headings
- Biosensing Techniques
- DNA
- Lasers
- Oligonucleotide Probes
- Viruses