Abstract

This study presents a novel approach for species-specific Leishmania molecular detection through isothermal DNA amplification (LAMP) from three species of clinical importance in Brazil (Leishmania amazonensis, L. braziliensis, and L. infantum). This approach combines photonics and nanotechnology by developing specific gold nanorods (GNrs) biosensors for each specie that we call here iAnG - isothermal DNA Amplification and Nano Gold. They were designed to interact directly with their respective LAMP amplicons, enabling short DNA amplification reactions and direct detection after just 15 minutes. This method is crucial as it offers a new rapid detection technique for a neglected tropical disease considered a global health problem. The direct detection capability addresses the major limitation of LAMP - false positives caused by nonspecific amplifications. Our work successfully developed efficient and effective sensor systems that selectively detect their targets, paving the way for future applications of gold nanorod biosensors and Depolarized Dynamic Light Scattering (DDLS) in Leishmaniasis diagnosis.