Gold Nanoparticles Decorated with Sialic Acid Terminated Bi-antennary N-Glycans for the Detection of Influenza Virus at Nanomolar Concentrations

Gold nanoparticles decorated with full-length sialic acid terminated complex bi-antennary N-glycans, synthesized with glycans isolated from egg yolk, were used as a sensor for the detection of both recombinant hemagglutinin (HA) and whole influenza A virus particles of the H1N1 subtype. Nanoparticle aggregation was induced by interaction between the sialic acid termini of the glycans attached to gold and the multivalent sialic acid binding sites of HA. Both dynamic light scattering DLS) and UV/Vis spectroscopy demonstrated the efficiency of the sensor, which could detect viral HA at nanomolar concentrations and revealed a linear relationship between the extent of nanoparticle aggregation and the concentration of HA. UV/Vis studies also showed that these nanoparticles can selectively detect an influenza A virus strain that preferentially binds sialic acid terminated glycans with alpha(2 -> 6) linkages over a strain that prefers glycans with terminal alpha(2 -> 3)-linked sialic acids.