Development of functional nucleic acid sensor for detection of locust pheromone 4-vinylanisole

In recent years, locust plagues have occurred frequently in the world, causing great concern. In this work, we developed a portable, stand-alone functional nucleic acid sensor to detect the locust pheromone 4-vinylanisole (4VA) to monitor the population dynamics of locusts and achieve early warning of locust disasters. A high-affinity aptamer sequence with a 4VA KD value of 269.25 ± 90.65 nM was obtained by selecting the 4VA DNA aptamer. The Apt@AuNPs@MOF (Apt: aptamer, AuNPs: gold nanoparticles, and MOF: metal–organic framework) functional nucleic acid sensor was designed on this basis, and its performance was tested. The results showed that the sensor based on the screened DNA aptamers had apparent selectivity for 4VA. At room temperature, it could respond to 1 ppm of 4VA gas within a minute. The sensitivity was 1.107 × 10−3, and the average response/recovery time was 103.1 ± 28.0 s/80.1 ± 17.4 s. The sensor was assembled with a composite adsorption tube for enrichment of gas sample, which allowed for the detection as low as 1 ppb of 4VA. It can be concluded that a gas sensor integrated with a high-affinity DNA aptamer and an interdigitated electrode automated biosensing platform provides a promising strategy on real-time monitoring the locust pheromone 4VA in ambient air for timely warning and prevention of locust plagues.