{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,1,18]],"date-time":"2026-01-18T12:32:30Z","timestamp":1768739550784,"version":"3.49.0"},"reference-count":38,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"12","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2015,11,30]],"date-time":"2015-11-30T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1448841600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Sensors"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Due to the nearly identical phenotypes and chemical constituents, it is often very challenging to accurately differentiate diverse species of a Chinese herbal genus. Although technologies including DNA barcoding have been introduced to help address this problem, they are generally time-consuming and require expensive sequencing. Herein, we present a simple sequencing-free electrochemical biosensor, which enables easy differentiation between two closely related Fritillaria species. To improve its differentiation capability using trace amounts of DNA sample available from herbal extracts, a stepwise electrochemical deposition of reduced graphene oxide (RGO) and gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) was adopted to engineer a synergistic nanostructured sensing interface. By using such a nanofeatured electrochemical DNA (E-DNA) biosensor, two Chinese herbal species of Fritillaria (F. thunbergii and F. cirrhosa) were successfully discriminated at the DNA level, because a fragment of 16-mer sequence at the spacer region of the 5S-rRNA only exists in F. thunbergii. This E-DNA sensor was capable of identifying the target sequence in the range from 100 fM to 10 nM, and a detection limit as low as 11.7 fM (S\/N = 3) was obtained. Importantly, this sensor was applied to detect the unique fragment of the PCR products amplified from F. thunbergii and F. cirrhosa, respectively. We anticipate that such a direct, sequencing-free sensing mode will ultimately pave the way towards a new generation of herb-identification strategies.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/s151229773","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2015,11,30]],"date-time":"2015-11-30T10:57:24Z","timestamp":1448881044000},"page":"29882-29892","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":12,"title":["Identification of Chinese Herbs Using a Sequencing-Free Nanostructured Electrochemical DNA Biosensor"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"15","author":[{"given":"Yan","family":"Lei","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Laboratory Medicine, Hubei University of Chinese Medicine, 1 Huangjia Lake West Road, Wuhan 430065, China"},{"name":"School of Pharmacy, Hubei University of Chinese Medicine, 1 Huangjia Lake West Road, Wuhan 430065, China"}]},{"given":"Fan","family":"Yang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Laboratory Medicine, Hubei University of Chinese Medicine, 1 Huangjia Lake West Road, Wuhan 430065, China"}]},{"given":"Lina","family":"Tang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Laboratory Medicine, Hubei University of Chinese Medicine, 1 Huangjia Lake West Road, Wuhan 430065, China"}]},{"given":"Keli","family":"Chen","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Pharmacy, Hubei University of Chinese Medicine, 1 Huangjia Lake West Road, Wuhan 430065, China"}]},{"given":"Guo-Jun","family":"Zhang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Laboratory Medicine, Hubei University of Chinese Medicine, 1 Huangjia Lake West Road, Wuhan 430065, China"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2015,11,30]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","unstructured":"Chinese Pharmacopoeia Commission (2010). 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