An Allosteric Transcription Factor DNA-Binding Electrochemical Biosensor for Progesterone

Abstract : We describe an electrochemical strategy to transduce allosteric transcription factor (aTF) binding affinity to sense steroid hormones. Our approach utilizes square wave voltammetry (SWV) to monitor changes in current output as a progesterone (PRG) specific aTF (SRTF1) unbinds from the cognate DNA sequence in the presence of PRG. The sensor detects PRG in artificial urine samples with sufficient sensitivity suitable for clinical applications. Our results highlight the capability of using aTFs as the biorecognition elements to develop electrochemical point-of-care biosensors for detection of small molecule biomarkers and analytes.