Femtomolar Detection of Dengue Virus DNA with Serotype Identification Ability

Dengue surveillance trusts only on reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) type methodologies for confirmation of dengue virus serotypes; however, its real time application is restricted due to the expensive, complicated, and time-consuming process. In search of a new sensing system, here, we have reported a two-way-detection method for Dengue virus (DENV) serotype identification along with DNA quantification by using a new class of nanocomposite of gold nanoparticles (AuNP) and nitrogen, sulfur codoped graphene quantum dots (N,S-GQDs). The N,S-GQDs@AuNP has been used for serotype detection via a simple fluorescence technique using four dye-combined probe DNAs which is further validated by confocal microscopy. The quantification of the DNA has been measured by the differential pulse voltammetric (DPV) technique using methyelene blue as a redox indicator. Results obtained in this study, clearly demonstrate that the N,S-GQDs@AuNP can efficiently detect the four serotypes of DENV individually in the concentration range of 10–14 to 10–6 M with the LOD of 9.4 fM. In addition, to confirm its applicability in long chained complex DNA system, the sensor was also applied to the clinically isolated DENV DNA and showed satisfactory performances for serotype identification as well as quantification. We hope this simple and reliable method can pave an avenue for the development of sensitive and robust sensing probes in biomedical applications.