An ultrasensitive liquid crystal aptasensing chip assisted by three-way junction DNA pockets for acrylamide detection in food samples

Acrylamide, an unsaturated amide found in heat-processed foods, poses serious risks to human health due to its neurotoxicity, carcinogenicity, and genotoxicity. This highlights the importance of quantitative determination of acrylamide in foods and the environments to ensure public health safety. Therefore, there is an urgent need for simple, rapid, and highly sensitive methods to accurately quantify acrylamide. In the present study, a userfriendly aptasensor was designed to quantify ultra-low levels of acrylamide in nuts for the first time. This innovative approach utilizes chemical engineering of a glass slide as a portable sensing platform, which incorporates liquid crystal (LC) molecules and a three-way junction (TWJ) DNA pocket. The immobilized TWJ pocket can disrupt the vertical alignment of LCs, turning the dark polarized background of the aptasensor to a colorful state. The binding of the specific aptamer to acrylamide disrupts the TWJ structure, enabling the LCs to