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A Fluorescence Light‐Up Silver Nanocluster Beacon Modulated by Metal Ions and Its Application in Telomerase‐Activity Detection
Author(s) -
Peng Manshu,
Ouyang Jin
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
chemistry – a european journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.687
H-Index - 242
eISSN - 1521-3765
pISSN - 0947-6539
DOI - 10.1002/chem.201805308
Subject(s) - nanoclusters , telomerase , fluorescence , dna , molecular beacon , chemistry , metal ions in aqueous solution , primer (cosmetics) , metal , biophysics , nanotechnology , materials science , biochemistry , biology , oligonucleotide , physics , organic chemistry , gene , quantum mechanics
DNA‐templated silver nanoclusters (DNA‐AgNCs) have been extensively studied in recent years. The enhancement of fluorescence emission from DNA‐AgNCs is still being explored. Herein, a study on the fluorescence enhancement of DNA‐AgNCs induced by metal ions is reported. The enhancement is greatly dependent on the primary sequence and secondary structure of the DNA strands. Thus, a label‐free AgNCs‐based molecular beacon (MB) was explored for the detection of telomerase activity. Nonfluorescent MB‐AgNCs in phosphate buffer emit dramatic red fluorescence when Mg 2+ is introduced, whereas Mg 2+ has a limited effect on the weak fluorescence of DNA‐AgNCs when the hairpin structure of MB is opened. Telomerase primer can be elongated by telomerase, which results in unfolding of MB in a strand‐displacement reaction. On the basis of the different brightnesses of AgNCs produced by the two DNA templates, telomerase activity can be detected. The MB‐AgNCs sensing platform provides a simple and low‐cost method to detect telomerase activity and shows great potential in the construction of cost‐effective probes for biomolecular detection.