Test strip coupled Cas12a-assisted signal amplification strategy for sensitive detection of uracil-DNA glycosylase

Abstract

Uracil-DNA glycosylase (UDG) is a base excision repair (BER) enzyme, which catalyzes the hydrolysis of uracil bases in DNA chains that contain uracil and N-glycosidic bonds of the sugar phosphate backbone. The expression of UDG enzyme is associated with a variety of genetic diseases including cancers. Hence, the identification of UDG activity in cellular processes holds immense importance for clinical investigation and diagnosis. In this study, we employed Cas12a protein and enzyme-assisted cycle amplification technology with a test strip to establish a precise platform for the detection of UDG enzyme. The designed platform enabled amplifying and releasing the target probe by reacting with the UDG enzyme. The amplified target probe can subsequently fuse with crRNA and Cas12a protein, stimulating the activation of the Cas12a protein to cleave the signal probe, ultimately generating a fluorescent signal. This technique showed the ability for evaluating UDG enzyme activity in different cell lysates. In addition, we have designed a detection probe to convert the fluorescence signal into test strip bands that can then be observed with the naked eye. Hence, our tool presented potential in both biomedical research and clinical diagnosis related to DNA repair enzymes.