Amplification of the electrochemical signal of an olfactory receptor based biosensor by in situ generated gold nanoparticles

In this work we present a biosensor based on olfactory receptors as a new bioelectronic device for detecting the presence and for measuring the concentration of specific odorants. To increase the surface of transducers, and consequently amplify the electrochemical signal, we generated gold nanoparticles on the surface of gold electrode. The characterization of the nanoparticles modified electrode surface allow to determine an increase of the surface area by a factor of 2.6 +/-. 0.4 (n = 4). Nanosomes from yeast containing olfactory receptor OR1740 with a cmyc tag were put in contact with the anti-cmyc antibody modified electrodes. Immobilization of nanosomes led to an increase in charge transfer resistance. This effect is amplified in the presence of gold nanoparticles by a factor of 3 +/- 0.5. (C) 2011 Published by Elsevier Ltd.