CRISPR/Cas precisely regulated DNA-templated silver nanocluster fluorescence sensor for meat adulteration detection

Meat adulteration can cause consumer fraud, food allergies, and religious issues. Rapid and sensitive detection methods are urgently demanded to supervise meat authenticity. Herein, a clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR)/Cas precisely regulated DNA-templated silver nanocluster (DNA-AgNC) sensor was ingeniously designed to detect meat adulteration. Specific sequence recognition of CRISPR/Cas12a allowed accurate identification of target DNA. The emerging label-free fluorescent probes, DNA-AgNCs, a class of promising fluorophores in biochemical analysis with attractive photostability and remarkably enhanced fluorescence properties, were first introduced as the substrates of CRISPR/Cas12a system, allowing a sensitive output of amplified signals through the precise regulation of the unique target DNA-activated trans-cleavage activity of Cas12a. Based on this specific recognition, efficient signal transduction of CRISPR/Cas12a, and the outstanding fluorescence properties of DNA-AgNCs, the proposed strategy achieved a satisfactory linear range from 10 pM to 1 μM with a limit of detection (LOD) as low as 1.9 pM, which can achieve sensitive detection of meat adulteration.