In this study, a target recycled amplification, background signal suppression, label-free fluorescent, enzyme-free deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) machine was developed for the detection of adenosine triphosphate (ATP) in human urine. ATP and DNA fuel strands (FS) were found to trigger the operation of the DNA machine and lead to the cyclic multiplexing of ATP and the release of single stranded (SS) DNA. Double-stranded DNA (dsDNA) was formed on graphene oxide (GO) from the combination of SS DNA and complementary strands (CS′). These double strands then detached from the surface of the GO and in the process interacted with PicoGreen dye resulting in amplifying fluorescence intensity. The results revealed that the detection range of the DNA machine is from 100 to 600 nM (R2= 0.99108) with a limit of detection (LOD) of 127.9 pM. A DNA machine circuit and AND-NOT-AND-OR logic gates were successfully constructed, and the strategy was used to detect ATP in human urine. With the advantage of target recycling amplification and GO suppressing background signal without fluorescent label and enzyme, this developed strategy has great potential for sensitive detection of different proteins and small molecules.
Xiao Fang Zhang,Na Li,Yu Ling,Nian Bing Li,Hong Qun Luo
Since uracil-DNA glycosylase (UDG) is closely related to some human diseases, monitoring and detection of UDG activity have great significance in its clinic diagnosis and functional study. Here we demonstrate a sensitive cascade multi-amplification fluorescence strategy for the active UDG assay with the help of exonuclease III (Exo III). Under the cleavage reaction of UDG, the double-stranded DNA containing peculiar uracil bases separated into two dissociative single-stranded DNA, which separately hybridized with two cyclic hairpin probes to launch the Exo III-assisted dual cycles. The hairpin DNA modified with fluorophore and quenching group was employed as the signal probe. After the dual cycles, countless same short DNA fragments were generated to hybridize with signal probes, initiating a new Exo III-assisted cyclic amplification and releasing numerous single-stranded DNA which carried only fluorophores. Thus, the fluorescence intensity of the detection system was enhanced. This study obtained the detection limit as low as 2.4 × 10 −4 U/mL for detecting the UDG activity. And it performed satisfactory selectivity and well practical applicability by analysis of the HeLa cell lysate, providing a potential method for clinic diagnosis and functional study of UDG activity.