Polydiacetylene (PDA)-based colorimetric detection of biotin–streptavidin interactions

The natural binding of streptavidin (STA) for a small molecule, biotin, has made it a useful tool in specific targeting application, due to their most specific noncovalent biological interactions in nature. Here, we describe a polydiacetylene (PDA)-based colorimetric biosensor to detect the STA–biotin interactions. We synthesized two kinds of biotin-labeled 10,12-pentacosadiynoic acid (PCDA) monomers having 2(ethylene oxide) or 3(ethylene oxide) spacer and prepared biotin-modified PDA liposomes using them. Upon the addition of STA, the modified PDA liposomes showed a color change from blue to red in about 1 h followed by their aggregation and precipitation. The aggregation was found to be due to the cross-linking between the PDA liposomes caused by the STA having four biotin binding sites, which was confirmed by their TEM analysis. Since the STA–biotin interactions are widely adopted for various biological detection systems; the biotin-modified PDA sensor developed in this study has enormous potentials for the development of various colorimetric biosensors.