Current advance of CRISPR/Cas-based SERS technology

Abstract

In recent years, clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR)-associated nuclease (Cas) has emerged as a powerful genome editing system. In addition to genome editing, CRISPR/Cas technology has attracted considerable attention in molecular diagnostics, particularly for nucleic acid detection as it has high sensitivity and specificity for target nucleic acids, which can initiate trans-cleavage actions at programmed sites or determine the target gene chain. Surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS), which depends on the presence of plasmonic nanoparticles or nanostructures, is widely used in biosensing because of its superior sensitivity and fingerprint spectral bands. The combination of SERS with the CRISPR/Cas technique has been realized by fabricating many elaborate plasmonic nanorobots and nanodevices that respond to target genes via Cas proteins. This review summarizes the operation of CRISPR/Cas technology, the application of CRISPR/Cas technology combined with SERS technology for nucleic acid detection, elements of SERS sensors, sensitivity and sensing time, and provides an outlook on future developments.