NIR-driven photoelectrochemical-fluorescent dual-mode biosensor based on bipedal DNA walker for ultrasensitive detection of microRNA

Optical biosensors have become powerful tools for bioanalysis, but most of them are limited by optic damage, autofluorescence, as well as poor penetration ability of ultraviolet (UV) and visible (Vis) light. Herein, a near-infrared light (NIR)-driven photoelectrochemical (PEC)-fluorescence (FL) dual-mode biosensor has been proposed for ultrasensitive detection of microRNA (miRNA) based on bipedal DNA walker with cascade amplification. Fueled by toehold-mediated strand displacement (TMSD), the bipedal DNA walker triggered by target miRNA-21 is formed through catalytic hairpin assembly (CHA), which can efficiently move along DNA tracks on CdS nanoparticles (CdS NPs)-modified fluorine doped tin oxide (FTO) electrode, resulting in the introduction of upconversion nanoparticles (UCNPs) on electrode surface. Under 980 nm laser irradiation, the UCNPs serve as the energy donor to emit UV/Vis light and excite CdS NPs to generate photocurrent for PEC detection, while the upconversion luminescence (UCL) at 803 nm is monitored for FL detection. This PEC-FL dual-mode biosensor has achieved the ultrasensitive and accurate analysis of miRNA-21 in human serum and different gynecological cancer cells. Overall, the proposed dual-mode biosensor can not only couple the inherent features of each single-mode biosensor but also provide a mutual authentication of testing results, which opens up a new avenue for early diagnosis of miRNA-related diseases in clinic.