Label-free fluorescence aptasensor for the detection of patulin using target-induced DNA gates and TCPP/BDC-NH2 mixed ligands functionalized Zr-MOF systems

Patulin (PAT) is an unsaturated lactone mycotoxin primarily produced by Penicillium expansum and Aspergillus clavatus. Given the potential health risks and economic losses associated with PAT, the rapid detection of PAT using fluorescent aptasensors is of significant importance in evaluating food safety. However, it easily increases the cost and complexity caused by signal labeling. We combined TCPP/BDC-NH2 mixed ligands functionalized Zr metal–organic frameworks (Zr-MOFmix) and terminated three-stranded DNA gates (ttsDNA gates) to fabricate a label-free fluorescent aptasensor for PAT detection. The Zr-MOFmix system was synthesized via a one-pot strategy and could be used to address the problem of pore size limitation and increase the loading amounts of dyes. TtsDNA gate was integrated into the Zr-MOFmix system to control the release of dyes, exhibiting a high signal-to-background ratio. The single-stranded aptamer region in ttsDNA gate situated away from the surface of the Zr-MOFmix, resulting in a natural release of dyes in the absence of PAT. While binding to PAT resulted in target-induced conformational changes that helped form the hairpin structure of the aptamer. This structure hindered the release of dyes from the pores of Zr-MOFmix, thus reducing the fluorescence signals intensity. The stimuli-responsive DNA-gated material provides a platform for PAT analysis under conditions of a low limit of detection (0.871 pg/mL). Furthermore, the excellent specificity and anti-interference of the fluorescent aptasensor make the system suitable for the analysis of apple juice samples. This label-free strategy is cheaper and simper compared with labeled detection, especially for the development of multi-target-detection.