High sensitive Ratiometric fluorescent Aptasensor with AIE properties for Deoxynivalenol (DON) detection

An emerging fluorescent ratiometric aptasensor based on gold nanoclusters (AuNCs) with aggregation-induced emission (AIE) properties was prepared and studied for deoxynivalenol (DON) detection. The ratiometric aptasensor used red fluorescent AuNCs 620 labelled with DON aptamer (Apt-AuNCs 620 ) as an indicator and green fluorescent AuNCs 519 modified by complementary DNA (cDNA) and magnetic beads (MBs) as internal reference, namely MBs-cDNA-AuNCs 519 . Under the optimal conditions, the aptasensor exhibited two good linear ranges of 0.1–50 and 50–5000 pg/mL for DON detection with coefficient of determination (R 2 ) of 0.9937 and 0.9928, respectively, and the low detection limit (LOD) of 4.09 pg/mL was achieved. Furthermore, this aptasensor was feasible to detect DON in positive wheat samples, and the results were in line with those from HPLC and ELISA, thus providing a promising route to detect DON with high sensitivity in cereals, even for other mycotoxins by replacing the suitable aptamer and cDNA. • Two AuNCs with AIE properties were prepared to construct a ratiometric aptasensor. • DON could achieve highly specific detection based on the proposed aptasensor. • A relatively low limit of detection of 4.09 pg/mL was achieved. • The applicability of the aptasensor in wheat samples was validated.