NanoCluster beacon - A new molecular probe for homogeneous detection of nucleic acid targets

Hsin Chih Yeh, Jaswinder Sharma, Jason J. Han, Jennifer S. Martinez, James H. Werner

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contribution

7 Scopus citations

Abstract

Oligonucleotide-templated nanoclusters consisting of a few atoms of silver (DNA/Ag NCs) have been made into a new molecular probe that "lights up" upon target DNA binding, termed a NanoCluster Beacon (NCB). We discovered that interactions between silver nanoclusters and a proximal, guanine-rich DNA strand can lead to tremendous red fluorescence enhancement [1]. Here we show that dark silver nanoclusters templated on an ssDNA can be lit up into a palette of colors (green, yellow/orange, and red) by employing different proximal sequences, potentially enabling the use of NCBs in multiplexed assays. We tested a suite of nanocluster-nucleation sequences and found the sequences that created strong red fluorescence enhancement share a common 5'-C 3NNNNNC4 motif, where N is either a thymine (T) or an adenine (A) base. We optimized the design of NCBs by testing the effect of different lengths of an interaction stem. The highest signal-to-background (S/B) ratio, 175, was achieved when the stem length was 3 base pairs long.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Title of host publicationNEMS 2011 - 6th IEEE International Conference on Nano/Micro Engineered and Molecular Systems
Pages267-270
Number of pages4
DOIs
StatePublished - 2011
Externally publishedYes
Event6th IEEE International Conference on Nano/Micro Engineered and Molecular Systems, NEMS 2011 - Kaohsiung, Taiwan, Province of China
Duration: Feb 20 2011Feb 23 2011

Publication series

NameNEMS 2011 - 6th IEEE International Conference on Nano/Micro Engineered and Molecular Systems

Conference

Conference6th IEEE International Conference on Nano/Micro Engineered and Molecular Systems, NEMS 2011
Country/TerritoryTaiwan, Province of China
CityKaohsiung
Period2/20/112/23/11

Keywords

  • DNA-templated silver nanoclusters
  • Noble metal nanoclusters
  • fluorescent probes
  • light-up probes

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics

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