Ultrasensitive detection of SARS-CoV-2 nucleocapsid protein using large gold nanoparticle-enhanced surface plasmon resonance

• Published in: Scientific reports Vol. 12; no. 1; pp. 1060 - 8
• Main Authors: Yano, Taka-aki, Kajisa, Taira, Ono, Masayuki, Miyasaka, Yoshiya, Hasegawa, Yuichi, Saito, Atsushi, Otsuka, Kunihiro, Sakane, Ayuko, Sasaki, Takuya, Yasutomo, Koji, Hamajima, Rina, Kanai, Yuta, Kobayashi, Takeshi, Matsuura, Yoshiharu, Itonaga, Makoto, Yasui, Takeshi
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 20.01.2022; Nature Publishing Group; Nature Portfolio
• Subjects: 639/624/1107/510; 639/624/399; Coronavirus Nucleocapsid Proteins - analysis; Coronavirus Nucleocapsid Proteins - chemistry; Coronaviruses; COVID-19; Gold - chemistry; Humanities and Social Sciences; Metal Nanoparticles - chemistry; multidisciplinary; N protein; Nanoparticles; Nucleocapsids; Pandemics; Phosphoproteins - analysis; Phosphoproteins - chemistry; Proteins; Resonance; SARS-CoV-2 - chemistry; Science; Science (multidisciplinary); Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2; Surface Plasmon Resonance
• ISSN: 2045-2322; 2045-2322
• DOI: 10.1038/s41598-022-05036-x

The COVID-19 pandemic has created urgent demand for rapid detection of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus. Herein, we report highly sensitive detection of SARS-CoV-2 nucleocapsid protein (N protein) using nanoparticle-enhanced surface plasmon resonance (SPR) techniques. A crucial plasmonic role in significantly enhancing the limit of detection (LOD) is revealed for exceptionally large gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) with diameters of hundreds of nm. SPR enhanced by these large nanoparticles lowered the LOD of SARS-CoV-2 N protein to 85 fM, resulting in the highest SPR detection sensitivity ever obtained for SARS-CoV-2 N protein.