Development of Gold Nanoparticles Biosensor for Ultrasensitive Diagnosis of Foot and Mouth Disease Virus

Background: Nano-PCR is a recent tool that is used in viral diseases diagnosis. The technique depends on the fundamental effects of gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) and is considered a very effective and sensitive tool in the diagnosis of different diseases including viral diseases. Although several techniques are currently available to diagnose foot and mouth disease virus (FMDV), a highly sensitive, highly specific technique is needed for specific diagnosis of the disease. In the present work, a novel AuNPs biosensor has been designed using thiol-linked oligonucleotides that recognize the conserved 3D gene of FMDV.

Results: The AuNPs-FMDV biosensor specifically recognizes RNA standards of FMDV, but not that of swine vesicular disease virus (SVDV) isolates. The analytical sensitivity of the AuNPs-FMDV biosensor was 10 copy number RNA standards in RT-PCR and 1 copy number RNA standard in real-time rRT-PCR with a 94.5% efficiency, 0.989 R, a - 3.544 slope and 100% specificity (no cross-reactivity with SVDV). These findings were confirmed by the specific and sensitive recognition of 31 Egyptian FMDV clinical isolates that represents the three FMDV serotypes (O, A, and SAT2).

Conclusions: The AuNPs-FMDV biosensor presents in this study demonstrates a superior analytical and clinical performance for FMDV diagnosis. In addition, this biosensor has a simple workflow and accelerates epidemiological surveillance, hence, it is qualified as an efficient FMDV diagnosis tool for quarantine stations and farms particularly in FMDV endemic areas.