The effects of gold nanoparticles with different sizes on polymerase chain reaction efficiency.

We report the effect of 5, 10 and 20 nm gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) on polymerase chain reaction (PCR) efficiency and a proposed mechanism for AuNPs affecting the PCR. It is observed that AuNPs can cause PCR inhibition, the degree of which is affected by the concentration of the AuNPs. AuNPs of larger sizes can cause complete PCR inhibition at a lower particle concentration than those of smaller sizes. Evidence from different experiments suggests that a probable mechanism is through polymerase-AuNP binding. The collected data show that the product yield is modulated by the total surface area of the AuNPs regardless of the size, which further supports the hypothesis.