Fluorescent nanoparticle beacon for logic gate operation regulated by strand displacement.

A mechanism is developed to construct a logic system by employing DNA/gold nanoparticle (AuNP) conjugates as a basic work unit, utilizing a fluorescent beacon probe to detect output signals. To implement the logic circuit, a self-assembly DNA structure is attached onto nanoparticles to form the fluorescent beacon. Moreover, assisted by regulation of multilevel strand displacement, cascaded logic gates are achieved. The computing results are detected by methods using fluorescent signals, gel electrophoresis and transmission electron microscope (TEM). This work is expected to demonstrate the feasibility of the cascaded logic system based on fluorescent nanoparticle beacons, suggesting applications in DNA computation and biotechnology.