Portable biosensors based on the CRISPR/Cas system for detection of pathogen bacteria: Up-to-date technology and future prospects

Up to now, the role of infectious pathogens bacteria in terms of severe human illnesses or even great deaths is undeniable. Over the last few years, the modern lifestyle has raised the problem of infectious pathogen bacteria more and more. Indeed, the rapid, sensitive and selective sensing platforms can prevent the spread of these microorganisms, additionally, optimize medical healthcare systems. In favor of this matter, clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR)/Cas system, as a microbial defense system, has attracted considerable attention. To elaborate, although the system protects bacteria from being attacked by invading types, there are various types of developed biosensors using the CRISPR/Cas system for the determination of numerous targets, including bacteria. In addition, the progress of nanotechnology brings about more efficient probes and sensing approaches in terms of point-of-care (POC) detection. In favor of probes, the integration of different nanomaterials can improve stability, accuracy and sensitivity. In addition, using smartphones, microfluidics systems and lateral flow assays (LFAs) can provide portable analytical approaches for bacteria. With this regard, in this study, we aimed to comprehensively analysis current advances in portable biosensors based on the CRISPR/Cas systems and their exploitation in the quantification of pathogenic bacteria. In the first part of this study, the working principles of CRISPR/Cas systems for introducing high-potential biosensors were discussed. Afterwards, attention focused on the application of portable biosensors based on the CRISPR/Cas systems in pathogenic biosafety analysis. Eventually, the challenges and opportunities for the further progress of these types of sensing approaches were discussed.