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Effect of the surface functional groups of dendrimer‐entrapped gold nanoparticles on the improvement of PCR
Author(s) -
Cao Xueyan,
Shen Mingwu,
Zhang Xiaodong,
Hu Jun,
Wang Jianhua,
Shi Xiangyang
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
electrophoresis
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.666
H-Index - 158
eISSN - 1522-2683
pISSN - 0173-0835
DOI - 10.1002/elps.201200061
Subject(s) - dendrimer , colloidal gold , nanoparticle , nanotechnology , chemistry , surface modification , biophysics , combinatorial chemistry , materials science , biology , polymer chemistry
PCR has been identified as one of the most important tools in molecular biology and clinical medicine. Improvement of the specificity and efficiency of PCR is often required, and it still remains a great challenge. Here, we introduce the use of dendrimer‐entrapped gold nanoparticles ( A u DENP s) with different terminal groups prepared using poly(amidoamine) ( PAMAM ) dendrimers of generation 5 ( G 5) as a novel class of enhancers to improve the specificity and efficiency of PCR amplification. We show that the optimum concentrations of all the tested A u DENP s are lower than those of the corresponding PAMAM dendrimers without gold nanoparticles ( A u NP s). For amine‐terminated [( A u 0 ) 51.2 ‐ G 5. NH 2 ] DENP s, the optimum required concentration is slightly lower than that of G 5. NH 2 dendrimers, whereas for glycidol‐modified [(Au 0 ) 51.2 ‐ G 5. NG lyOH] and acetylated [( A u 0 ) 51.2 ‐ G 5. NHA c] DENP s, the optimum required concentrations are one and three magnitude lower than the corresponding dendrimers, respectively. Our results suggest that the entrapment of A u NP s within the dendrimer interior helps to reserve the 3D spherical morphology of dendrimers, allowing for enhanced interaction with the PCR components. Simultaneously, because of the existence of thermal conductive A u NP s, the enhanced local heat transfer rate may afford decreased chances of mispairing between primers and templates, which is beneficial for enhancing the PCR specificity and efficiency. Therefore, the use of A u DENP s as a novel class of PCR enhancers may enable both improved interaction with the PCR components and the thermal conductivity, which allow them to be used for enhancing different error‐prone PCR systems.