Sensitive electrochemical detection of hepatitis C virus subtype based on nucleotides assisted magnetic reduced graphene oxide-copper nano-composite

In the paper, a DNA assisted magnetic reduced graphene oxide-copper nanocomposite (mrGO-CuNCs) is proposed. Copper ions are able to accelerate the oxidation of o-phenylenediamine. The electrochemical signal of the oxidized product, 2,3-diaminobenazine, are employed to characterize the HCV DNAs. The strategy is able to sensitively detect HCV DNA over a wide linear range within the range of 0.5–10 nM and has a detection limit of 405.0 pM. Critically, it could effectively discriminate the 1b and 6 k subtypes of HCV. This assay strategy has promising applications in the early diagnosis and blood screening of HCV.