Development of Paper-Based Cell-Free Toehold Switch Sensor
In the context of global warming and environmental pollution, the paper has been widely used as an active biosensing platform for the development of biosensors given its many advantages such as allowing electrical conduction, hydrophilicity, hydrophobicity, and recyclability. Cell-free systems, which enable processes such as gene transcription and protein translation in the vitro development environments, are gaining increasing attention as biosensing platforms. As a world-class biotechnology company, CD BioSciences can combine toehold switch RNA with paper and cell-free systems to develop a simple and portable paper-based cell-free toehold that can detect target RNA sensitively and specifically switch sensors.
Our Service
Our paper-based cell-free toehold switch sensor development service leverages the ability of the toehold switch RNA bioengineering element to control downstream gene translation. Compared to traditional toehold switch sensor development services, we also need to design a targeted toehold switch for different target RNAs and also need to use isothermal amplification technology to amplify the target RNA to amplify the detection signal and finally output the detection signal with the help of translation of the reporter gene.
Our paper-based cell-free toehold switch sensor development service has the following five main steps:
1. Toehold switch design and construction of toehold switch plasmids. We first design, optimize and construct the toehold switch based on your specific target RNA to be tested, and on this basis, construct the toehold switch sensing plasmid.
2. Trigger the synthesis of RNA testing. We transcribe and synthesize RNA based on the DNA template of the target to be tested and modify it to explore whether the trigger RNA can active the toehold switch.
3. Screen the toehold switch sensor in a cell-free system. in this step, firstly, we need to construct a suitable cell-free system, and then test the toehold switch sensor with a cell-free system containing the trigger RNA.
4. NASBA isothermally amplifies the RNA to be tested. The detection signal is amplified using NASBA to ensure the high sensitivity of the sensor.
5. Paper-based cell-free toehold switch sensor preparation. The surface of the paper-based platform must be specifically designed and modified to meet the requirements for selective detection, therefore, we need to properly screen and treat the paper-based carrier to ensure that the target to be detected can be successfully detected using this biosensor.
Targets We Can Detect
- Bacteria
- Viruses
- Biomarkers
- Drug resistance genes, etc.
Our Advantages
- Environmentally friendly
- High stability of the sensor
- Low development cost and detection cost
- Sensitive and specific discrimination of viruses
- No need for specialized operators and sophisticated equipment
Applications
- Agriculture
- Medicine
- Food safety
- Drug discovery
- Environmental control
We Are Ready to Provide
CD BioSciences has a dedicated research team and extensive toehold switch research experience to provide you with a highly sensitive and cost-effective paper-based cell-free toehold switch sensor development service based on your unique needs. If you are interested in this service, please contact us directly for more information.
Reference
- Cao, M.; et al. Detection and differentiation of respiratory syncytial virus subgroups A and B with colorimetric toehold switch sensors in a paper-based cell-free system. Biosens Bioelectron. 2021, 182: 113173.