The transmission of SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus has led to the COVID-19 pandemic. Nucleic acid testing while specific has limitations for mass surveillance. One alternative is the main protease (M^{pro} ) due to its functional importance in mediating the viral life cycle. Here, we describe a combination of modular substrate and gold colloids to detect M^{pro} via visual readout. The strategy involves zwitterionic peptide that carries opposite charges at the C-/N-terminus to exploit the specific recognition by M^{pro} . Autolytic cleavage releases a positively charged moiety that assembles the nanoparticles with rapid color changes (t<10 min). We determine a limit of detection for M^{pro} in breath condensate matrices <10 nM. We further assayed ten COVID-negative subjects and found no false-positive result. In the light of simplicity, our test for viral protease is not limited to an equipped laboratory, but also is amenable to integrating as portable point-of-care devices including those on face-coverings.
【저자키워드】 COVID-19, smart mask, Colorimetric analysis, Zwitterionic peptide, mpro/3clpro/nsp5.,