Authors
Xinyu Qu, Chengge Gao, Longjia Lin, Bingqian Lu, Yujing Zeng, Siyu Liu, Chenbo Ji, Xuemei Jia, Genxi Li
Published in
Analytical chemistry. Volume 98. Issue 35. Pages 26054-26062. Sep 08, 2026.
Abstract
In nature, biological systems achieve highly efficient sensing through the orchestrated self-assembly of proteins, which converts subtle molecular stimuli into clear physiological responses. However, replicating such high-fidelity transduction in artificial peptide-based sensors remains a challenge. Herein, we report a programmable "Molecular Domino" strategy that transforms peptide assembly from a passive recognition event into an active, cascaded signal amplification process. Specifically, we have designed a self-assembling peptide (SAP-RGD) that remains kinetically monodispersed until the target acts as a local nucleation template, overcoming the energy barrier to initiate in situ assembly. This initial recognition event triggers a domino-like effect: target-anchored assemblies act as molecular seeds for the recursive recruitment of peptide monomers (RRK-SAP), which subsequently bridge silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) to generate a high-gained electrochemical signal. This bioinspired approach has also demonstrated exceptional sensitivity for breast cancer cell detection and robust performance in complex biological matrices. Furthermore, by modularly tailoring the targeting motif, the designed system has successfully monitored the dynamic expression of N-cadherin during the epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) in MCF-7 cells. This modular sensing paradigm may offer a versatile method for precisely tracking complex pathological transitions.
PMID:
42708741
Bibliographic data and abstract were imported from PubMed on 08 Sep 2026.
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