Sensing Picomolar Concentrations of RNA Using Switchable Plasmonic Chirality

Funck, Timon; Nicoli, Francesca; Kuzyk, Anton und Liedl, Tim (2018): Sensing Picomolar Concentrations of RNA Using Switchable Plasmonic Chirality. In: Angewandte Chemie-International Edition, Bd. 57, Nr. 41: S. 13495-13498

Abstract

Detecting small sequences of RNA in biological samples such as microRNA or viral RNA demands highly sensitive and specific methods. Here, a reconfigurable DNA origami template has been used where a chiral arrangement of gold nanorods on the structure can lead to the generation of strong circular dichroism (CD). Switching of the cross-like DNA structure is achieved by the addition of nucleic acid sequences, which arrests the structure in one of the possible chiral states by specific molecular recognition. A specific sequence can thus be detected through the resulting changes in the plasmonic CD spectrum. We show the sensitive and selective detection of a target RNA sequence from the hepatitis C virus genome. The RNA binds to a complementary sequence that is part of the lock mechanism, which leads to the formation of a defined state of the plasmonic system with a distinct optical response. With this approach, we were able to detect this specific RNA sequence at concentrations as low as 100 pm.

• Dokumententyp: Zeitschriftenartikel
• Fakultät: Physik
• Themengebiete: 500 Naturwissenschaften und Mathematik > 530 Physik
• ISSN: 1433-7851
• Sprache: Englisch