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Spotlights on Recent JACS Publications.

■ A SWEET APPROACH TO ANALYTE DETECTION Personal glucose meters, or glucometers, are among the limited number of widely used point-of-care devices, offering ease of use, low cost, and reliable quantitative results. For this reason, Chaoyong James Yang and co-workers turn to glucometers to help them develop a new method to detect a wide range of non-glucose analytes in solution (DOI: 10.1021/ja3114714). The team employs hydrogels cross-linked with aptamers, or DNA strands with specific ligand-binding capabilities. The cross-linking occurs in the presence of glucoamylasean enzyme that catalyzes the hydrolysis of amylose into glucose such that the enzyme becomes physically trapped inside the gel. When the aptamer’s target ligand is introduced to the hydrogel immersed in an amylose-rich solution, the aptamer−target binding event causes the breakdown of the hydrogel and release of glucoamylase. The free enzyme converts amylose into glucose, which is then rapidly quantified by the portable glucometer. The team thus combines the convenience and reliability of a simple glucometer with the selective binding capabilities of aptamers. The result is a cost-effective approach to quantifying non-glucose analytes, with the potential to be extended to detect any analyte for which an aptamer exists or can be developed. Christine Herman, Ph.D.