Soil microbiome characterization and its future directions with biosensing

Table 2 Biosensing applied to the soil microbiome

Bioreceptor & signal type	Example & reference	Time of assay, hours	Approximate size	Strengths	Weaknesses
Enzyme Electrical	Glucose monitors [14]	< 1	Handheld	Very substrate specific Rapid Easy to use Mature technology	Limited stability Production is costly
Antibody Optical	LFIA, ELISA [117, 118]	< 2	Handheld	Very specific Can be rapid Mature technology Easy visual identification	Moderate stability Requires immune response to produce bioreceptor
Antibody Optical	Optical array [9]	< 1	Handheld	Very specific Multiplex array	Moderate stability Requires immune response to produce bioreceptors Complicated analysis of multiplexed visual data
Aptamer Optical	[131]	< 1	Handheld	Can be highly specific High stability	Need to generate aptamer libraries to increase specificity
Aptamer Electrical	Electrochemical array^a	Not reported^a	Handheld	Can be highly specific Multiplex array	Need to generate aptamer libraries to increase specificity Novel technology^a
Genetic circuit Optical	[120, 123, 132]	< 2	Handheld	Can be highly specific Can incorporate logic into response Commercially available bioreceptors	Takes significant laboratory skill and time Could affect community under study
Biosensing in general		< 2	Handheld	Rapid Low-cost Handheld and portable Already used for point-of-care tests	Newer technologies Often have trade-off between stability and specificity

^aSeveral papers have noted that aptamer-based electrochemical biosensors have great potential [6, 44, 68], but no papers were found that have already used this technology

ISSN: 1754-1611