Development of a bioluminescence resonance energy transfer Quenchbody sensor for the detection of organophosphorus pesticides in water bodies

Rapid and precise quantification of organophosphorus pesticides (OPPs) in environmental water bodies is crucial for evaluating ecological risks and safeguarding human health. Traditional instrumental methods are complex, time-consuming, and expensive, while enzyme-based biosensors suffer from instability and require a constant supply of substrates. Hence, there is an urgent need for a fast, simple, and sensitive biosensor for OPPs. In this study, we developed a novel non-enzymatic biosensor for the detection of methyl parathion (MP) by employing the bioluminescence resonance energy transfer (BRET) Q-body strategy. Optimizing the spacer arm and screening fluorescent dyes identified the R6G BRET MP Q-body sensor with the best performance. Key parameters affecting the sensor's detection performance were optimized by using single-factor experiments. Under optimal conditions, the detection exhibited a detection limit of 5.09 ng·mL−1 and a linear range of 16.21–848.81 ng·mL−1. The sensor's accuracy was validated using standard recovery experiments, yielding a recovery rate of 84.47 %–102.08 % with a standard deviation of 1.93 %–9.25 %. The detection results of actual water samples demonstrate that this fast, simple, and highly sensitive BRET Q-body sensor holds great promise for practical water quality monitoring.