| Title: | Insect odorant receptor-based biosensors: Current status and prospects |
| Author(s): | Cheema JA; Carraher C; Plank NOV; Travas-Sejdic J; Kralicek A; |
| Address: | "Polymer Biointerface Centre, School of Chemical Sciences, The University of Auckland, Auckland 1023, New Zealand; MacDiarmid Institute for Advanced Materials and Nanotechnology, Wellington 6140, New Zealand; The New Zealand Institute for Plant and Food Research Limited, Private Bag 92169, Auckland 1142, New Zealand. The New Zealand Institute for Plant and Food Research Limited, Private Bag 92169, Auckland 1142, New Zealand. MacDiarmid Institute for Advanced Materials and Nanotechnology, Wellington 6140, New Zealand; School of Chemical and Physical Sciences, Victoria University of Wellington, Wellington 6021, New Zealand. Polymer Biointerface Centre, School of Chemical Sciences, The University of Auckland, Auckland 1023, New Zealand; MacDiarmid Institute for Advanced Materials and Nanotechnology, Wellington 6140, New Zealand. Electronic address: j.travas-sejdic@auckland.ac.nz. The New Zealand Institute for Plant and Food Research Limited, Private Bag 92169, Auckland 1142, New Zealand; Scentian Bio Limited, 1c Goring Road, Sandringham, Auckland 1025, New Zealand. Electronic address: andrew@scentianbio.com" |
| DOI: | 10.1016/j.biotechadv.2021.107840 |
| ISSN/ISBN: | 1873-1899 (Electronic) 0734-9750 (Linking) |
| Abstract: | "Whilst the senses of vision and hearing have been successfully automated and miniaturized in portable formats (e.g. smart phone), this is yet to be achieved with the sense of smell. This is because the sensing challenge is not trivial as it involves navigating a chemosensory space comprising thousands of volatile organic compounds. Distinct aroma recognition is based on detecting unique combinations of volatile organic compounds. In natural olfactory systems this is accomplished by employing odorant receptors (ORs) with varying specificities, together with combinatorial neural coding mechanisms. Attempts to mimic the remarkable sensitivity and accuracy of natural olfactory systems has therefore been challenging. Current portable chemical sensors for odorant detection are neither sensitive nor selective, prompting research exploring artificial olfactory devices that use natural OR proteins for sensing. Much research activity to develop OR based biosensors has concentrated on mammalian ORs, however, insect ORs have not been explored as extensively. Insects possess an extraordinary sense of smell due to a repertoire of odorant receptors evolved to interpret olfactory cues vital to the insects' survival. The potential of insect ORs as sensing elements is only now being unlocked through recent research efforts to understand their structure, ligand binding mechanisms and development of odorant biosensors. Like their mammalian counterparts, there are many challenges with working with insect ORs. These include expression, purification and presentation of the insect OR in a stable display format compatible with an effective transduction methodology while maintaining OR structure and function. Despite these challenges, significant progress has been demonstrated in developing OR-based biosensors which exploit insect ORs in cells, lipid bilayers, liposomes and nanodisc formats. Ultrasensitive and highly selective detection of volatile organic compounds has been validated by coupling these insect OR display formats with transduction methodologies spanning optical (fluorescence) and electrical (field effect transistors, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy) techniques. This review summarizes the current status of insect OR based biosensors and their future outlook" |
| Keywords: | "Animals *Biosensing Techniques Insect Proteins Insecta Odorants *Receptors, Odorant/genetics Smell Biosensor Droplet interface bilayer Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy Graphene FET Insect odorant receptor Liposomes Nanodiscs Odorant sensing;" |
| Notes: | "MedlineCheema, Jamal Ahmed Carraher, Colm Plank, Natalie O V Travas-Sejdic, Jadranka Kralicek, Andrew eng Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't Review England 2021/10/05 Biotechnol Adv. 2021 Dec; 53:107840. doi: 10.1016/j.biotechadv.2021.107840. Epub 2021 Oct 1" |
