Covalent immobilization of oligonucleotides on p-aminophenyl-modified carbon screen-printed electrodes for viral DNA sensing.

DNA-sensing platforms were prepared by covalently attaching oligonucleotide capture probes onto p-aminophenyl-functionalized carbon surfaces and applied to the determination of an amplified herpes virus DNA sequence in an electrochemical hybridization assay.

Simple enzyme-amplified amperometric detection of a 38-base oligonucleotide at 20 pmol L(-1) concentration in a 30- microL droplet.

A 38-base DNA sequence has been detected at 20 pmol L(-1) concentration in 15-35- microL droplets by means of an electrochemical enzyme-amplified sandwich-type assay on a mass-manufacturable screen-printed carbon electrode. Formation of the sandwich brought the horseradish peroxidase-label of the detection sequence into electrical contact with a pre-electrodeposited redox polymer, making the sandwich an electrocatalyst for the reduction of hydrogen peroxide to water at +0.2 V (Ag/AgCl).

Screen printing of nucleic acid detecting carbon electrodes.

A large fraction of the presently mass-manufactured (> 10(8) units/year) electrochemical biosensors, used mostly by diabetic people to monitor their blood glucose levels, have screen-printed carbon working electrodes. An earlier study (Campbell, C. N.

Mediated electrochemistry of horseradish peroxidase. Catalysis and inhibition.

A precise determination of the complex mechanism of catalysis and inhibition involved in the reaction of HRP with H(2)O(2) as substrate and an outersphere single electron donor ([Os(bpy)(2)pyCl](+)) as cosubstrate is made possible by a systematic analysis of the cyclic voltammetric responses as a function of the scan rate and of the substrate and cosubstrate concentrations, complemented by spectrophotometric steady-state and stopped-flow experiments. The bell-shaped calibration curve relating the electrochemical response to the concentration of H(2)O(2) is qualitatively and quantitatively explained by taking into account the conversion of the catalytically active forms of the enzyme into the inactive oxyperoxidase in addition to the primary catalytic cycle. These characteristics should be kept in mind in biosensor applications of HRP.