Back Seung Hyuk, Park Jin Hyuk, Cui Chunzhi, Ahn Dong June
KU-KIST Graduate School of Converging Science and Technology, Korea University, Seoul 02841, Korea.
Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Korea University, Seoul 02841, Korea.
Nat Commun. 2016 Jan 4;7:10234. doi: 10.1038/ncomms10234.
Incorporation of duplex DNA with higher molecular weights has attracted attention for a new opportunity towards a better organic light-emitting diode (OLED) capability. However, biological recognition by OLED materials is yet to be addressed. In this study, specific oligomeric DNA-DNA recognition is successfully achieved by tri (8-hydroxyquinoline) aluminium (Alq3), an organic semiconductor. Alq3 rods crystallized with guidance from single-strand DNA molecules show, strikingly, a unique distribution of the DNA molecules with a shape of an 'inverted' hourglass. The crystal's luminescent intensity is enhanced by 1.6-fold upon recognition of the perfect-matched target DNA sequence, but not in the case of a single-base mismatched one. The DNA-DNA recognition forming double-helix structure is identified to occur only in the rod's outer periphery. This study opens up new opportunities of Alq3, one of the most widely used OLED materials, enabling biological recognition.
高分子量双链DNA的掺入为改善有机发光二极管（OLED）性能带来了新机遇，备受关注。然而，OLED材料的生物识别问题仍有待解决。在本研究中，有机半导体三（8-羟基喹啉）铝（Alq3）成功实现了特定的寡聚DNA-DNA识别。在单链DNA分子的引导下结晶的Alq3棒，令人惊讶地呈现出独特的DNA分子分布，形状为“倒置”沙漏。识别完美匹配的目标DNA序列时，晶体的发光强度增强了1.6倍，而单碱基错配的情况则不然。形成双螺旋结构的DNA-DNA识别被确定仅发生在棒的外周。本研究为最广泛使用的OLED材料之一Alq3开辟了新机遇，使其具备生物识别能力。
