Open AccessA novel class of polymeric fluorescent dyes assembled using a DNA synthesizer
Author(s) -
Tracy J. Matray,
Sharat Singh,
Hesham Sherif,
Kenneth Farber,
Erin Kwang,
Michael VanBrunt,
Eriko Matsui,
Hiroaki Yada
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
plos one
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.99
H-Index - 332
ISSN - 1932-6203
DOI - 10.1371/journal.pone.0243218
Subject(s) - phosphoramidite , fluorescence , rational design , polymer , combinatorial chemistry , computer science , nanotechnology , materials science , oligonucleotide , chemistry , dna , organic chemistry , physics , biochemistry , quantum mechanics
In the pursuit of a novel class of fluorescent dyes we have developed a programmable polymer system that enables the rational design and control of macromolecular constructs through simple control of polymer primary sequence. These polymers are assembled using standard phosphoramidite chemistry on a DNA synthesizer which allows for extremely rapid prototyping and enables many permutations due to the large selection of phosphoramidite monomers presently available on the market. This programmability to some extent allows us to control the interactions/spacing of payload molecules distributed along the designed polymeric backbone. Control of molecular architecture using this technology has allowed us to address the long-standing technical issue of contact quenching between fluorescent dyes offering new possibilities in the life sciences arena. Much like peptidic sequences coding for enzymes, cofactors, and receptors (all needing control of tertiary structure for proper function via primary sequence) our programmable system approaches a similar endpoint using a phosphate based polymeric backbone assembled in a completely automated fashion. Using this novel technology, we have efficiently synthesized several types of fluorescent dyes and demonstrated the programmability in molecule design, including the increases in brightness of the fluorescence emission.