Fingerprint profiling human gut microbiota through boronic acid-based sensor array and its application on colorectal cancer classification

The interplay between gut microbiota and host plays a crucial role in human health and disease pathogenesis. However, current profiling methods for gut microbiota are costly, time-intensive and require specialized instrumentation. Herein, we develop a boronic acid-based sensor array, GUT-SCAN (Gut Unique Typing via Spectral and Chemical Analysis using Boronic Acid Nanosensor), for rapid profiling of human gut microbiota. The sensor array consists of six pH-responsive boronic acid derivatives and three pH environments (6.0, 7.4, and 8.2), forming an 18-channel sensor array. This array successfully distinguishes gut-derived bacteria with 100% accuracy. Additionally, it enables quantification of bacterial species associated with colorectal cancer (CRC) and identification of distinct bacterial compositions at varying mixing ratios. Notably, this sensor array is also capable of discriminating CRC at different stages. The simplicity, rapidity and affordability of this platform highlight its potential for microbiota analysis and its applicability in disease diagnostics, particularly for CRC. The community of microbes living in our gut plays a crucial role in our health. Here, authors develop a simple chemical sensor array that can rapidly identify different gut bacteria and distinguish between stages of colorectal cancer, offering a promising approach for disease diagnostics.