A TiO2-adenine nanocomposite as modification material for screen-printed gold electrode to detect H1N1 (swine flu) virus: A disposable genosensor

A genosensor based on TiO2-adenine nanocomposites (NCs) modified screen-printed gold electrode surface (TA-SPGE) was immobilized with haemagglutinin (HA) gene specific probe containing 5 ' amine group and investigated for swine flu virus (H1N1). Bare SPGE surface was modified by drop coating of the nanocomposites. The NCs and precursors were characterized structurally and morphologically by adopting various techniques such as Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectra, X-ray Diffraction (XRD) spectra, UV-Visible spectra, Raman spectra, Zeta sizer, Field-Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy (FE-SEM), Energy Dispersive spectra (EDS) and High -Resolution Transmission Electron Microscopy (HR-TEM) with Selected Area Electron Diffraction (SAED) pattern. Electrochemical techniques termed as cyclic voltammetry (CV), differential pulse voltammetry (DPV) and electrochemical impedance spectra (EIS) were employed for analytical detection of single-stranded viral genome in phosphate buffer saline (pH-7.2) by using methylene blue (MB) redox indicator. Moreover, the per-formance of designed electrode was optimized at different concentration, pH, and scan rates. The proposed genosensor revealed high sensitivity 10.6 mu A/ng.cm2, lower detection limit (LOD) of 6.7 x 10-8 ng/mL and wide linear range of 3 x 10-8-3 x 10-3 ng/mL with regression coefficient of R2 = 0.989 towards swine flu virus DNA. Additionally, the modified genosensor revealed good stability and specificity against human DNA and various pathogens such as H3N2 influenza virus, Bacillus subtilis, Neisseria meningitidis, Staphylococcus aureus and Streptococcus pyogenes. The proposed genosensor is based on relatively simple methodology, quite amicable and could promptly be used as point-of-care test for swine flu virus detection.