Construction of a SERS platform for sensitive detection of aflatoxin B1 based on CRISPR strategy.

Aflatoxin B1, a pathogen in the aflatoxin family, has attracted much attention due to the harmfulness in production and life. However, the common methods like high performance liquid chromatography used for detection of AFB1 have deficiency in complicated pretreatment processes, and the purification effect is not ideal. Herein, a SERS platform based on CRISPR strategy was designed for sensitive detection of AFB1. By synthesizing core-shell nanoparticles embedded with Raman silent region dye molecules, Prussian blue (PB), the detection of the sensor reduced background interference and the SERS signal was calibrated. At the same time, the high-efficiency reverse cleavage activity of cas12a was used to convert non-nucleic acid targets into nucleic acid, so as to achieve the effect of sensitive detection of AFB1 with a detection limit of 3.55  pg/mL. This study provides a new thought for SERS detection of non-nucleic acid targets in the future.