Customization of aptamer to develop CRISPR/Cas12a-derived ultrasensitive biosensor

The CRISPR/Cas systems have provided wide biosensing applications. Particularly, the aptamer-involved CRISPR/Cas sensor system powerfully expanded to non-nucleic-acid targets. However, tailoring the sequence of the aptamer to explore the relationship between affinity and the activation of CRISPR/Cas12a trans-cleavage activity has not been reported yet. Herein, we developed a series of new aptamers toward the spike protein 1(S1) of SARS-CoV-2. Surface plasmon resonance measurements showed that the affinity of these aptamers to S1 was at the nM level. Subsequently, a “SET” effect (Sequence Essential Trans-cleavage activity) is discovered for the activation of CRISPR/Cas12a trans-cleavage activity. That is, an aptamer, as the activator, sequence needs to be tailored to activate CRISPR/Cas12a efficiently. A balance should be reached between affinity and activation ability. On the one hand, high affinity ensures target recognition performance, and on the other hand, activation can achieve adequate amplification and output of recognition signals. The optimized sequence (with 27 nucleotides, for short 27-nt) not only recognizes the target with a high affinity and specificity but also can trigger the CRISPR/Cas12a trans-cleavage activity efficiently, showing an excellent detection performance in electrochemical biosensors. The detection limit for SARS-CoV-2 S1 can be low at 1.5 pg mL−1. The new CRISPR/Cas12a-derived aptasensor also displays a remarkable ability to detect Beta, Delta, and Omicron variants but is selective toward other kinds of proteins. Above all, it is robust for point-of-care testing (POCT) in complex biological fluids, such as saliva, urine, and serum, and provides a universal and scalable detecting platform. Our results provide new insights into aptamer development and a different strategy for COVID-19 antigen detection and biosensor development.