Electrochemical performance of a DNA-based sensor device for detecting toxic algae

This work illustrates the electrochemical performance of a DNA-based sensor device for detecting toxic algae. This biosensor uses an electrochemical detection of the species in a sandwich hybridisation. A thiol (biotin) labelled capture probe was immobilized onto gold (carbon) electrodes. Synthetic positive control DNA was applied to the sensor and allowed to hybridize to the capture probe. A signal probe with a horseradish peroxidase (HRP) label was then applied, followed by an antibody to the HRP and a substrate. The electrical signal obtained from the redox reaction was proportional to the amount of DNA applied to the biosensor, which in turn would be proportional to the number of cells harvested when applied to real samples. Optimization of the hybridization process was already achieved in a previous work. Elucidation of the different steps of the fabrication process from the electrochemical point of view, proof of concept with different algal species and evaluation of the influence of the transducer platform geometry and material in the biosensor analytical performance are the main achievements reported here.