MICROCHEMICAL JOURNAL
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2025
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IF 5.1
Wenwen Chen,Xiuhe Zheng,Hongliang Ma,Yao Zhang,Liangliang Yan,Yang Xue,Jie Du,Lina Zhang
Aptazymes, which integrate molecular recognition with catalytic activity, are promising signal transducers in biosensing applications. However, their utility is constrained by limited modularity and the reliance on costly signal-labeling strategies. Here, we present a programmable aptazyme platform incorporating a shared catalytic module that enables a generalized, label-free fluorescence detection of diverse molecular targets. Each aptazyme comprised a conserved flanking arm, catalytic core, and linker, with a target-specific aptamer domain. Target binding allosterically activated the catalytic function, triggering substrate cleavage and the release of a uniform single-stranded DNA (ssDNA) output, irrespective of the input molecule. A fluorescence light-up aptamer reporter, assembled from two probe strands, recognized the released ssDNA to form a tripartite complex that activated fluorescence in a label-free manner. Using ATP, quinine, and phenylalanine as model targets, the platform demonstrated robust sensing performance with a linear range of 5–150, 5–200, and 20–500 μM, respectively, and a limit of detection (LOD) of 1.03, 1.51, and 1.68 μM, respectively. This all-DNA biosensing system is cost-effective and modular for detecting various analytes. We anticipate that this strategy can be broadly adapted by incorporating alternative aptamers and DNAzymes.
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ANALYTICA CHIMICA ACTA
·
2026
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IF 6.1
Ruo-Yao Cui,Yu-Chao Cao,Yi-Xuan Gu,Ling-Li Zhao,Xu-Yang Shen,Ying Liu,Ying-Lin Zhou,Xin-Xiang Zhang
Background G-quadruplexes (G4s) act as versatile scaffolds for biosensing, yet a generalizable strategy to systematically amplify the fluorescence of G-rich scaffold-bound molecular rotors remains lacking. Results Herein, we propose a G-run-length engineering strategy to enhance the “light-up” performance of fluorogenic ligands using Thioflavin T (ThT) as a model molecular rotor. Through rational design of a sequence library derived from EAD4 with variable G-run lengths (N = 2–6, where N denotes the number of consecutive guanines per G-tract), we show that increasing N progressively amplified ThT fluorescence by up to ∼1000-fold under metal-free conditions. Mechanistic investigations—including induced circular dichroism, thermal melting analysis, Job plots, isothermal titration calorimetry and hydroxylation kinetics—support that G-run extension increases ligand-accessible binding environments and shields bound ThT from the aqueous phase, thereby restricting intramolecular rotation and suppressing non-radiative decay. The enhanced shielding likely arises from strengthened terminal stacking and/or possible cavity-associated binding, although the present data do not define a single G4 topology or a unique microscopic binding mode. The G-run-length-dependent enhancement trend was further observed in derivative libraries based on different G-rich DNA scaffolds and with other molecular rotors, including Thiazole Orange and Auramine O, suggesting functional generalizability. By contrast, macrocyclic planar ligands such as hemin and N-Methyl Mesoporphyrin IX, which are dominated by terminal G-tetrad association rather than intramolecular rotation restriction, did not show the same trend. Significance These findings establish G-run-length engineering as a practical strategy for regulating G-rich scaffold–fluorophore interactions and provide mechanistic guidance for nucleic-acid-based fluorescence signal amplification.
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TALANTA
·
2026
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IF 6.7
Yao Zhang,Xiao Liu,Hongliang Ma,Liangliang Yan,Yang Xue,Shaoming Shi,Jie Du
Fluorescent light-up aptamers (FLAPs) are attractive signaling tools due to their label-free fluorescence and programmability. However, DNA-based FLAP sensors are often constrained by low fluorogenic activation efficiency, limited intrinsic target responsiveness, and insufficient signal amplification. In this study, we integrated a DNA-based FLAP (DAP) with a three-branched DNA (TBD) scaffold to construct a multivalent FLAP nanostructure (DAP–TBD) that exhibited enhanced fluorogenic activation toward Auramine O (AO). Compared with monovalent DAP, the trivalent DAP–TBD showed a 3.3-fold increase in fluorogenic activation efficiency, indicating a clear multivalent effect. The system adopts a modular architecture in which DAP functions as a replaceable FLAP model. Using a target-triggered catalytic DNA assembly (CDA) circuit composed of three rationally designed hairpin DNAs, multiple DAP–TBD nanostructures are assembled isothermally, enabling target-triggered signal generation and amplification without the need for labeled probes. The CDA-based DAP–TBD system selectively detects target single-stranded DNA with a detection limit of 235 pM. Furthermore, coupling the DAP–TBD system with an exonuclease-assisted hairpin and an aptazyme enabled label-free detection of microRNA and adenosine triphosphate, demonstrating the versatility of the system as a signal sensor that can interface with diverse upstream transducer modules. The system requires no fluorophore or quencher labeling, relies on only three unmodified DNA strands, and offers programmability, modularity, and cost-effectiveness. Overall, this study presents a multivalent DNA-based FLAP nanostructure and provides a versatile strategy for developing label-free fluorescent biosensors.
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BIOSENSORS & BIOELECTRONICS
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2025
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IF 10.5
Wen Tian,Tao Liu,Xiaoying Niu,Po Li,Zhehuang Li,Songcheng Yu,Peng Zhang
DNA methylation serves as a critical epigenetic biomarker for early disease screening and clinical diagnostics, exemplified by the FDA-approved detection of methylated Septin9 gene in peripheral blood for colorectal cancer (CRC) screening. Conventional CRISPR/Cas12a-based detection systems rely on fluorophore-quencher-labeled ssDNA probes to transduce trans-cleavage activity into fluorescence signal, which yet suffers from limitations including complex probe synthesis, background noise induced by incomplete quenching and high cost. In this study, we developed a cascaded and label-free CRISPR/Cas12a system for Septin9 methylation detection using DNAzyme and split DAP-10. The method employed methylation-sensitive Aci I digestion to selectively hydrolyze non-methylated DNA, leaving methylated Septin9 DNA fragment intact to activate CRISPR/Cas12a system. Activated Cas12a triggered trans-cleavage of DNAzyme, a bifunctional molecule that acted as both trans-cleavage substrate of Cas12a and hydrolysis regulator of linker DNA that facilitated split DAP-10 reassembly to light-up Auramine O (AO) fluorescence proportionally to methylation levels. The assay achieved a linear range from 2 to 200 nM with a detection limit of 1.74 nM and robust performance in accuracy, precision, and selectivity. The proposed method was successfully applied in methylated Septin9 detection in cell lines, clinical tissues and blood samples, which indicated application potential for CRC screening.
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JOURNAL OF MATERIALS SCIENCE
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2025
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IF 3.9
Wu Yue,Yuchao Qi,Xue Ying,Hao Xiaonan,Sun Shulin,Zhao Jingxuan
The escalating industrial activities in metal processing, textile manufacturing, petroleum refining, leather production, and pulp industries have generated substantial amounts of industrial wastewater, presenting critical environmental challenges that require immediate attention. In this study, we developed a novel polyacrylonitrile grafted ionic liquid (PAN-g-IL) membrane through γ-ray irradiation-induced grafting of 1-vinyl-3-ethylimidazolium bromide onto polyacrylonitrile, followed by non-solvent induced phase separation (NIPS) membrane fabrication [1] . The developed membrane exhibited exceptional separation performance for both dye-laden and oil-contaminated wastewater systems. The PAN-g-IL membrane demonstrated a pure water flux of 358.1 L m −2 h −1 with remarkable rejection rates exceeding 98% for cationic dyes, and for oil–water emulsions has a very good retention performance [2] , indicating superior antifouling properties and long-term operational stability.
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FOOD CHEMISTRY
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2022
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IF 9.231
Shuangshou Wang,Lu Zhang,Qiwen Jin,Zhongqiu Xu,Jiayi Zhao,Yuwen Ding,Wenzhi Li,Peng Lin,Jing Gu,Qi Zhang,Yang Chen,Hongmei Chen,Tingxuan Yan
A filter paper-based colorimetric strategy for instrument-independent visual detection of artificial food colorants (FCs) was developed in this study. Indicator papers were prepared via the one-step polycondensation of silane coupling agents onto glass microfiber filter papers, and colorimetric cards with a fine one-to-one correspondence between their colors and FCs concentrations were straightforward obtained by the extraction of FCs with indicator papers by virtue of electrostatic interaction and hydrophobic effect. Filter papers post-modified via such a simple way were proved to be of improved binding class selectivity and colorimetric sensitivity, allowing for in-situ colorimetric assay of FCs in an unprecedently wide range of applicable pH (1.0–12.0) with high reliability and fine versatility. Finally, the semiquantitative naked-eye determination of FCs (Allura red, brilliant blue and sunset yellow) in real-world drink samples was experimentally confirmed to be feasible by comparison with the findings of UV–vis absorption spectra, HPLC and mass spectra.
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ANALYTICA CHIMICA ACTA
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2022
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IF 6.911
Shuangshou Wang,Wenzhi Li,Zhihong Yuan,Qiwen Jin,Zongpeng Ding,Xiaomeng Liu,Mingfu Ye,Jing Gu,Tingxuan Yan,Hongmei Chen,Yang Chen
The existing strategies for the determination of synthetic food colorants (FCs) in manufactured foods are highly relied on specialized instruments and skilled personnel which are limited by the high technical threshold and instrumentation cost. Herein, highly branched pipette tips (PTs) were fabricated as a robust all-in-one device for high-performance extraction and visual detection of FCs via handy aspiration and dispensing procedures of pipette controller. The density of extraction groups and inner specific surface area of PTs greatly increased after facile physical coating and subsequent layer-by-layer branching reactions, and the maximum increment in binding capacity of PTs was exceeded 300 times at 8–10 iterations of branching layers, enabling the PTs to be colored just by short-time extraction of FCs and to achieve the instrument-independent visual detection of FCs by virtue of their outstanding PT-SPE performance. As a proof-of-concept, the in-situ PT-based solid phase extraction (PT-SPE) with high recoveries (from 91.73 ± 4.76% to 99.90 ± 4.14%) and semiquantitative naked-eye detection of FCs (Allura red and brilliant blue) in real beverages were experimentally demonstrated to be highly feasible by comparison with classical techniques like spectrophotometry , HPLC , and mass spectrometry.
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SENSORS AND ACTUATORS B-CHEMICAL
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2021
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IF 7.46
Lili Kong,Jie Chen,Meizhen Huang
In this paper, we have developed a graphene oxide/Au@Ag nanobones membrane (GO/Au@Ag NBs membrane) for simultaneous enrichment and SERS detection of colorants in beverages. Raman enhancement effect of Au@Ag nanobones (NBs) and enrichment capability of graphene oxide (GO) are contributed to the high sensitivity of GO/Au@Ag NBs membrane. Microporous membrane provides a support template for uniformly loading high-density GO/Au@Ag NBs. When beverage flow through the portable filtration unit with GO/Au@Ag NBs membrane, colorant molecules could be efficiently enriched. The prepared GO/Au@Ag NBs membrane exhibits an excellent sensitivity with a LOD of Rhodamine 6 G at 1.12 × 10 −9 mol/L, and has good performances of uniformity (with an RSD of 7.87 %), repeatability (with an RSD of 10.44 %), time stability (stored up to 60 days). Six types of colorants were sensitively detected combined with GO/Au@Ag NBs membranes, portable filtration unit and self-development portable Raman system. The lowest distinguished amounts of molecular accumulation are well below the maximum usage limits and the limits of visual recognition. Support vector machine model was established to identify the types of colorants, including colorants with coincident Raman peaks or similar visual colors, with an average accuracy of 94.8 %. In addition, GO/Au@Ag NBs membranes were used to enrich and detect colorant additives in commercial beverages, brilliant blue in energy beverage and carmine in bayberry wine were successfully detected. These results indicate GO/Au@Ag NBs membranes combined with a portable filtration unit can effectively enrich and rapidly detect colorants in beverages, and has great potential in the field of on-site and sensitive food safety detection.
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ENVIRONMENTAL POLLUTION
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2021
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IF 8.071
Shuai Guo,Chaoxian Wei,Yaxian Zhu,Yong Zhang
Plant leaf cuticles play a critical role in the accumulation and transport of atmospheric polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). The relationship between the distribution and retained amount of PAHs on the leaf cuticles and the leaves micro-zone structures is still unclear. In this study, a confocal microscopic fluorescence spectral analysis (CMFSA) system with a spatial resolution of 200 nm was established as a direct and noninvasive means to determine the microscopic distribution and quantify the retained amount of benzo[a]pyrene (B[a]P) at Aegiceras corniculatum ( Ac ), Kandelia obovata ( Ko ) and Avicennia marina ( Am ) leaf cuticle micro-zones (0.096 mm 2 ). The linear ranges for the established method were 10–1900 ng spot −1 for Ac , 15–1700 ng spot −1 for Ko and 30–1800 ng spot −1 for Am , and the detection limits were 0.06 ng spot −1 for Ac , 0.06 ng spot −1 for Ko and 0.07 ng spot −1 for Am . Notably, B[a]P formed clusters and unevenly distributed at the leaf cuticles. On the adaxial cuticles, B[a]P was mainly accumulated unevenly along the epidermis cell wall, and it was also distinctively distributed in the secretory cells around salt glands for Ac and Am . On the abaxial leaf cuticles, B[a]P was concentrated in the salt glands and stomata apart from being unevenly distributed in the epidermis cell wall. Moreover, the amount of B[a]P retained presented a negative correlation with the polarity of leaf cuticles, which resulted in the amount of B[a]P retained on the adaxial leaf cuticles being significantly higher than that on abaxial leaf cuticles. Our results provide a potential in situ method for investigating the distribution and retained amount of PAHs at plant leaf surface micro-zones, which would contribute to further studying and understanding the mechanism of migration and transformation of PAHs by plant leaves from a microscopic perspective.
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Journal of Environmental Chemical Engineering
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2026
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IF 7.5
Ying Xue,Xiaonan Hao,Yue Wu,Yang Xu,Jundi Long,Jian Dong,Yuanrui Wang,Shulin Sun
Combined NVP grafting and MMT@ZIF-8@TA modification raised pure water flux to 836.84 L·m⁻²·h⁻¹, ~6.8× of pristine PLA membrane. • The membrane retained over 95% rejection for four cationic/anionic dyes, realizing charge-selective adsorption (98% MeB removal, 99% AO removal). • PZ4 membrane removed 78.59% methylene blue under UV in 150 min; its rate constant (0.00995 min⁻¹) was ~110 times the blank group. • Superoxide (•O₂⁻) and hydroxyl (•OH) radicals were verified as the main active species during photocatalytic degradation. Rapid industrialization and urbanization have exacerbated water scarcity and pollution. Traditional polymer membranes are non‑renewable and non‑biodegradable. Polylactic acid (PLA) is a biodegradable and renewable alternative, but its hydrophobicity and lack of functional groups restrict its direct application in water purification. To address these limitations, we grafted N‑vinylpyrrolidone (NVP) onto PLA chains via free‑radical polymerization to obtain PLA‑g‑PVP with enhanced hydrophilicity. Zeolitic imidazolate framework‑8 (ZIF‑8) was grown in situ on montmorillonite (MMT) and coated with tannic acid (TA) to obtain MMT@ZIF‑8@TA nanoparticles, which synergistically improve membrane porosity, adsorption capacity, and photocatalytic activity. A series of PLA‑g‑PVP/MMT@ZIF‑8@TA (PZ) membranes were fabricated by non‑solvent induced phase separation. The PZ4 membrane exhibited a pure water flux of 836.84 L·m⁻²·h⁻¹ , approximately 6.8 times that of pristine PLA, and achieved over 95% rejection for four representative dyes, including both cationic (auramine O, methylene blue) and anionic (congo red, methyl blue) dyes. After five cycles, the flux recovery rate remained 81.03% with dye rejection > 90%, showing excellent reusability. The PZ membranes also demonstrated adsorption and photocatalytic activity. The PZ4 membrane degraded 78.59% of methylene blue within 150 min under UV irradiation, attributed to efficient separation of photogenerated electron‑hole pairs and synergistic oxidation by hydroxyl (·OH) and superoxide (·O 2 ⁻) radicals, leading to dye mineralization. This eco‑friendly membrane integrates high separation efficiency, which shows great potential for the purification of dye-containing wastewater, and sheds light on the design of multifunctional composite filtration membranes. Download: Download high-res image (266KB) Download: Download full-size image
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JOURNAL OF HAZARDOUS MATERIALS
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2023
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IF 13.6
Jingxuan Zhao,Hongxu Liu,Peng Xue,Yuchao Qi,Ziwei Lv,Ruijia Wang,Yucheng Wang,Shulin Sun
In the process of removing dye wastewater, the membrane surface is susceptible to contamination, resulting in reduced performance and limited dye separation efficiency. A single hydrophilic modification layer is not enough to achieve effective separation of different types of dyes. The present research designed a "double layer protection" method in order to overcome the above deficiencies. A solution of dopamine (DA) coated carbon nanotubes (CNTs-COOH) was covered on the surface of the polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) membrane by deposition, followed by grafting a layer of chitosan (CS) polymer brushes on its surface. The spatial double layer structure provides an excellent barrier effect and effectively reduces the contamination of dyes. When filtering different types of dyes, effective filtration of anionic and cationic dyes through the electrostatic effect of the first layer, the adsorption of CNTs in the second layer and the hydration layer of both layers. All membranes have excellent rejection properties. More importantly, the membranes also had good chemical and mechanical stability and their serviceability was not degraded. Therefore, the prepared PVDF-based multi-layer composite membranes behave a potential application prospect in the wastewater purification field.
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Journal of Agriculture and Food Research
·
2023
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IF 3.8
Meng Liu,Zihao Zong,Xiangjun Fang,Ruiling Liu,Honglei Mu,Hangjun Chen,Ben Niu,Haiyan Gao
An extracellular cutinase in Botrytis cinerea was isolated and its biochemical properties and effects on the penetration of pathogens were evaluated. This cutinase had a specific activity of 6.03 U/μg of protein after 22.33-fold purification, and yielded a recovery of 50.5%. The optimum pH and temperature for the enzymatic activity of cutinase were 9 and 45 °C, respectively. The cutinase was stable between 30 and 80 °C and pH 4.0–10.0. Fe 3+ and Cu 2+ strongly increased cutinase activity while Mn 2+ completely inhibited it. The enzyme could maintain its activity in the presence of methanol, ethanol and isopropanol, but was significantly inhibited in acetonitrile, n -hexane and acetone. Kinetic parameters K M , V max and k cat were 0.21 mM, 303 μmol•min −1 •mg −1 protein and 303.03 s −1 respectively. The purified cutinase could also destroy blueberry wax crystal and decrease the cuticle, indicating a positive role on the penetration of pathogens for blueberry fruits. This study provides useful information for fruit postharvest preservation.
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危险品化学品经营许可证（带存储）