Single-walled carbon nanotubes based quenching of free FAM-aptamer for selective determination of ochratoxin A

Ochratoxin A, a toxin produced by Aspergillus ochraceus and Penicillium verrucosum, is one of the most abundant food-contaminating mycotoxins in the world. It has been classified by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) as a possible human carcinogen. In this paper, a sensitive and selective fluorescent aptasensor for ochratoxin A (OTA) detection was constructed, utilizing single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) as quencher which can quench the fluorescence of free unfolded toxin-specific aptamer attached with FAM (carboxyfluorescein). Without any coating materials as compared to graphene-oxide based sensor, we obtained the detection limit of our sensing platform based on SWNTs to be 24.1 nM with a linear detection range from 25 nM to 200 nM. This technique responded specifically to OTA without interference from other analogues (N-acetyl-l-phenylalanine, warfarin and OTB). It has also been verified for real sample application by testing 1% beer containing buffer solution spiked with a series of concentration of OTA.