Probing the mutation independent interaction of DNA probes with SARS-CoV-2 variants through a combination of surface-enhanced Raman scattering and machine learning

Parikshit Moitra, Department of Pediatrics, Center for Blood Oxygen Transport and Hemostasis, University of Maryland Baltimore School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, 21201, United States.
Ardalan Chaichi, Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA, 70803, United States.
Syed Mohammad Abid Hasan, Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA, 70803, United States.
Ketan Dighe, Department of Pediatrics, Center for Blood Oxygen Transport and Hemostasis, University of Maryland Baltimore School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, 21201, United States; Department of Chemical, Biochemical, and Environmental Engineering, University of Maryland Baltimore County, Baltimore, MD, 21250, United States.
Maha Alafeef, Department of Pediatrics, Center for Blood Oxygen Transport and Hemostasis, University of Maryland Baltimore School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, 21201, United States; Bioengineering Department, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL, 61801, United States; Department of Chemical, Biochemical, and Environmental Engineering, University of Maryland Baltimore County, Baltimore, MD, 21250, United States; Biomedical Engineering Department, Jordan University of Science and Technology, Irbid, 22110, Jordan.
Alisha Prasad, Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA, 70803, United States.
Manas Ranjan Gartia, Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA, 70803, United States. Electronic address: mgartia@lsu.edu.
Dipanjan Pan, Department of Pediatrics, Center for Blood Oxygen Transport and Hemostasis, University of Maryland Baltimore School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, 21201, United States; Department of Diagnostic Radiology and Nuclear Medicine, University of Maryland Baltimore School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, 21201, United States; Bioengineering Department, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL, 61801, United States; Department of Chemical, Biochemical, and Environmental Engineering, University of Maryland Baltimore County, Baltimore, MD, 21250, United States. Electronic address: dipanjan@som.umaryland.edu.

Abstract

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) evolution has been characterized by the emergence of sets of mutations impacting the virus characteristics, such as transmissibility and antigenicity, presumably in response to the changing immune profile of the human population. The presence of mutations in the SARS-CoV-2 virus can potentially impact therapeutic and diagnostic test performances. We design and develop here a unique set of DNA probes i.e., antisense oligonucleotides (ASOs) which can interact with genetic sequences of the virus irrespective of its ongoing mutations. The probes, developed herein, target a specific segment of the nucleocapsid phosphoprotein (N) gene of SARS-CoV-2 with high binding efficiency which do not mutate among the known variants. Further probing into the interaction profile of the ASOs reveals that the ASO-RNA hybridization remains unaltered even for a hypothetical single point mutation at the target RNA site and diminished only in case of the hypothetical double or triple point mutations. The mechanism of interaction among the ASOs and SARS-CoV-2 RNA is then explored with a combination of surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) and machine learning techniques. It has been observed that the technique, described herein, could efficiently discriminate between clinically positive and negative samples with ∼100% sensitivity and ∼90% specificity up to 63 copies/mL of SARS-CoV-2 RNA concentration. Thus, this study establishes N gene targeted ASOs as the fundamental machinery to efficiently detect all the current SARS-CoV-2 variants regardless of their mutations.