A highly sensitive fluorometric biosensor for Fumonisin B1 detection based on upconversion nanoparticles-graphene oxide and catalytic hairpin assembly

Fumonisin (FB) is a common mycotoxin in corn, wheat, oats, and their related products. FB1 is the most predominant among fumonisins and is responsible for severe food contamination that may have deleterious effects on public health. Therefore, the demand for achieving sensitive detection of FB1 is becoming more and more pressing. In the present study, a creative biosensor for FB1 detection was developed based on fluorescence resonance energy transfer between upconversion nanoparticles (UCNPs) and graphene oxide (GO) with catalytic hairpin assembly (CHA) target recycling and amplification. In the presence of FB1, UCNPs were bound to the CHA amplification products away from the GO surface. Simultaneously, a strong fluorescence signal was produced at 980 nm (near-infrared light). The correlation between the concentration of FB1 and the fluorescence intensity exhibited a high relevance (R2 = 0.9971) ranging from 0.032 to 500 ng mL-1, and the method reached a considerably low limit of detection (0.0121 ng mL-1). It could be applied for the detection of FB1 in corn, oats, and infant supplements. The sensitive detection of FB1 proves the application potential of this method on food safety detection. This biosensor can enable high-throughput fungal toxin detection by allowing the use of various aptamers.