Aptamers as synthetic receptors for food quality and safety control

Abstract

Among the technological breakthroughs necessary to create a sustainable food future, the development of fast, sensitive, cost-effective and easy to use sensors for precise determination of different targets to ensure food quality, authenticity, safety and traceability are gaining momentum. Aptamers, single-stranded nucleic acids with high binding affinity and selectivity for specific targets, have emerged as promising recognition elements in sensor design. The benefits of selectivity, stability, and easy-modification are reasons for increased interest in exploiting aptamers as specific synthetic receptors for food quality and safety control. This chapter summarises the major advances in the development of sensors and analytical assays based on aptamers for food analysis. We start by giving an overview of the variants of the in vitro selection process used to identify the aptamers, termed systematic evolution of ligands by exponential enrichment (SELEX). Then, we present a comprehensive and critical analysis of the different aptamer-based strategies that have been applied to the control of targets of interest in food products, such as allergens, toxins, and microbial or chemical contaminants. Finally, we discuss the challenges that need to be considered to ensure that these new devices move to market and future directions to overcome them