{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,27]],"date-time":"2026-09-27T04:38:00Z","timestamp":1790483880419,"version":"4.1.0"},"reference-count":33,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"3","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2022,1,18]],"date-time":"2022-01-18T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1642464000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"Program for Innovative Research Team of Science and Technology in the University of Henan Province","award":["21IRTSTHN005"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["21IRTSTHN005"]}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100001809","name":"National Natural Science Foundation of China","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["U2004193"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["U2004193"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100001809","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Molecules"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) main protease (Mpro) has been regarded as one of the ideal targets for the development of antiviral drugs. The currently used methods for the probing of Mpro activity and the screening of its inhibitors require the use of a double-labeled peptide substrate. In this work, we suggested that the label-free peptide substrate could induce the aggregation of AuNPs through the electrostatic interactions, and the cleavage of the peptide by the Mpro inhibited the aggregation of AuNPs. This fact allowed for the visual analysis of Mpro activity by observing the color change of the AuNPs suspension. Furthermore, the co-assembly of AuNPs and peptide was achieved on the peptide-covered electrode surface. Cleavage of the peptide substrate by the Mpro limited the formation of AuNPs\/peptide assembles, thus allowing for the development of a simple and sensitive electrochemical method for Mpro detection in serum samples. The change of the electrochemical signal was easily monitored by electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). The detection limits of the colorimetric and electrochemical methods are 10 and 0.1 pM, respectively. This work should be valuable for the development of effective antiviral drugs and the design of novel optical and electrical biosensors.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/molecules27030615","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2022,1,18]],"date-time":"2022-01-18T22:46:32Z","timestamp":1642545992000},"page":"615","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":33,"title":["Colorimetric and Electrochemical Methods for the Detection of SARS-CoV-2 Main Protease by Peptide-Triggered Assembly of Gold Nanoparticles"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"27","author":[{"given":"Yunxiao","family":"Feng","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Pingdingshan University, Pingdingshan 467000, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Gang","family":"Liu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Henan Province of Key Laboratory of New Optoelectronic Functional Materials, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Anyang Normal University, Anyang 455000, China"},{"name":"College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Henan University of Technology, Zhengzhou 450011, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Ming","family":"La","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Pingdingshan University, Pingdingshan 467000, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-7982-6005","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Lin","family":"Liu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Henan Province of Key Laboratory of New Optoelectronic Functional Materials, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Anyang Normal University, Anyang 455000, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2022,1,18]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"289","DOI":"10.1038\/s41586-020-2223-y","article-title":"Structure of Mpro from SARS-CoV-2 and discovery of its inhibitors","volume":"582","author":"Jin","year":"2020","journal-title":"Nature"},{"key":"ref_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1331","DOI":"10.1126\/science.abb4489","article-title":"Structure-based design of antiviral drug candidates targeting the SARS-CoV-2 main protease","volume":"368","author":"Dai","year":"2020","journal-title":"Science"},{"key":"ref_3","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"23492","DOI":"10.1002\/anie.202107481","article-title":"Repurposing an antiviral drug against SARS-CoV-2 main protease","volume":"60","author":"Sarkar","year":"2021","journal-title":"Angew. 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