Nanomaterials-assisted CRISPR/Cas detection for food safety: Advances, challenges and future prospects

It is of great significance to develop consensus, easy-to-use and conceptually new methods for guaranteeing food safety. CRISPR/Cas system is an emerging technology with excellent capability of DNA/RNA targeting, which has been repurposed as a powerful toolkit for nucleic acids detection. A number of nanomaterials have been created and manufactured via advanced nanotechnology and used in biosensors to revolutionize food safety detection by improving feasibility, compatibility and applicability. CRISPR/Cas-based detection is greatly benefited from the combination with nanomaterials to upgrade performance. This review paid attention to CRISPR/Cas-assisted biosensors with the help of nanomaterials and their enormous potential in food safety. First, the issues in food safety and principles of the CRISPR/Cas system were summarized. Then the different types of nanomaterials used in novel CRISPR/Cas-assisted biosensors were objectively introduced. The applications of nanomaterials-assisted CRISPR/Cas detection in food safety were elaborated and discussed. Lastly, discussions were conducted on challenges and future prospects.