Insect olfactory system inspired biosensors for odorant detection

Abstract

With their accurate olfactory system, insects can detect and discriminate thousands of odorants at very low concentrations in a complicated chemical environment. Inspired by this remarkable olfactory ability, physicochemical transducers integrated with different olfactory derived materials or biomimetic elements were studied and developed, which are collectively called olfactory biosensors. Widely used biological materials include insect antennae, odorant-binding proteins, chemosensory proteins, olfactory receptors, and even sensitive peptides. Based on the physiological properties of these biological materials, they can be incorporated with different analytical techniques, including electrochemical impedance spectroscopy, localized surface plasmon resonance, field-effect transistors, quartz crystal microbalance, surface acoustic waves, and fluorescence imaging, for odorant detection. This paper reviews the development of olfactory biosensors along with typical biochemical detecting cases. The roles of the olfactory system are highlighted to show the design, construction, and detection of olfactory biosensors. Meanwhile, the performance and advantages of insect olfactory system inspired biosensors are introduced with their applications in food evaluation, environmental monitoring, and healthcare diagnosis. With advances in olfactory sensing mechanisms, sensing technologies, and miniaturized electronics, olfactory biosensors, especially those biosensors based on olfactory sensing systems, will eventually become effective detection and analytical tools in the future.