Sensor array for rapid pathogens identification fabricated with peptide-conjugated 2D metal-organic framework nanosheets

Rapid and efficient identification of pathogen is indispensable in clinical diagnosis because of the extremely severe consequence induced by pathogens infection. Taking advantages of the various compositions of pathogen surfaces, in this work we have proposed a simple and rapid sensor array for different pathogens identification and discrimination based on two-dimensional metal–organic frameworks (2D-MOFs) conjugated with functional peptide. Owing to the outstanding physical and chemical properties, ultrathin 2D-MOFs can adsorb dye-labeled peptides and consequently quench the fluorescence quickly and efficiently. Nevertheless, in the presence of pathogens, the anionic surface and different bimolecular composition of pathogens will endow them to interact with the 2D-MOFs or peptides through the diverse non-specific interactions. Subsequently, the dye-labeled peptides can be released with a recovery of fluorescence intensity. Consequently, the sensor array can identify various pathogens rapidly and efficiently based on the distinct fluorescence response patterns. Moreover, experimental results reveal that this approach can discriminate different pathogens with 100% accuracy, even in urine or mixed samples, demonstrating its reliability and effectiveness in the complex biological samples. More importantly, the procedure of pathogens identification by using this sensor array is very fast with only ~ 15 min, indicating the great potential applications in the timely clinical treatments and reliable monitoring of infectious disease trends.