Screening of Transgenic Frost-Resistant Cotton Using a Porous Silicon Biosensing Platform

BACKGROUND: The genetic screening of exogenous gene expression is critical for the transgenic plant breeding. OBJECTIVE: Here, a novel label-free porous silicon (PSi)-based biosensor is reported for the identification of frost-resistant cotton. METHODS: Changes in optical response signal in the presence of antifreeze protein (AFP) were detected by Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectromicroscopy when binding of the target AFP protein with anti-AFP-antibodies was selectively captured on the PSi biosensor. RESULTS: Compared with non-transgenic plants, significant red shifts were observed for transgenic frost-resistant cotton lines except a transgenic line 2. CONCLUSION: The approach is highly efficient with lower cost and high sensitivity for detecting large number of transgenic samples in the trial field simultaneously. This PSi biosensing platform has potential commercial applications for the rapid assessment of transgenic plants in the field.