Silver Nanocluster–Based Label-Free Aptasensor for the Turn-On Fluorescent Detection of Ochratoxin A

Despite the substantial human health risks posed by ochratoxin A (OTA), a potent my- cotoxin, simple, low-cost methods for its sensitive and selective detection in foods are lacking. To address this gap, we herein developed a label-free OTA aptasensor based on deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA)-scaffolded silver nanoclusters (AgNCs) with an intense red fluorescence. As the DNA template fragment used for AgNC fabrication was derived from the complementary sequence of the OTA aptamer (Apt-OTA), Apt-OTA...