Biosensors for the detection of emerging marine toxins

Abstract

Emerging marine toxins present in the environment are relevant for food safety issues. Researchers are currently putting special emphasis on the development of biosensors for their detection. Due to their structural complexity and the difficulty to produce the corresponding biorecognition molecules, the development of assays and biosensors for their detection has become a challenge. Compared to traditional detection techniques, biosensors can provide advantages in terms of sensitivity, specificity, design versatility, portability and multiplexed configurations. This chapter provides a critical overview of the immunosensors, receptor-based biosensors, cell-based biosensors and aptasensors that have been developed for the detection of palytoxins (PlTXs), brevetoxins (PbTXs) and tetrodotoxins (TTXs). Although only few biosensors for these emerging marine toxins have been described to date, the chapter reflects the promising advances made in this field.