Sapienza University of Rome, P.le Aldo Moro 5, 00185 Rome, Italy.
Sapienza University of Rome, P.le Aldo Moro 5, 00185 Rome, Italy.
Int J Biol Macromol. 2021 Feb 15;170:88-93. doi: 10.1016/j.ijbiomac.2020.12.039. Epub 2020 Dec 29.
In the last decades, DNA has been considered far more than the system carrying the essential genetic instructions. Indeed, because of the remarkable properties of the base-pairing specificity and thermoreversibility of the interactions, DNA plays a central role in the design of innovative architectures at the nanoscale. Here, combining complementary DNA strands with a custom-made solution of silver nanoparticles, we realize plasmonic aggregates to exploit the sensitivity of Surface Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy (SERS) for the identification/detection of the distinctive features of DNA hybridization, both in solution and on dried samples. Moreover, SERS allows monitoring the DNA aggregation process by following the temperature variation of a specific spectroscopic marker associated with the Watson-Crick hydrogen bond formation. This temperature-dependent behavior enables us to precisely reconstruct the melting profile of the selected DNA sequences by spectroscopic measurements only.
在过去的几十年中，人们已经认识到 DNA 远不只是携带基本遗传指令的系统。事实上，由于碱基配对特异性和相互作用热可逆性的显著特性，DNA 在纳米尺度上的创新结构设计中发挥着核心作用。在这里，我们将互补的 DNA 链与定制的银纳米粒子溶液结合在一起，实现了等离子体聚集体，以利用表面增强拉曼光谱（SERS）的灵敏度来识别/检测 DNA 杂交的独特特征，无论是在溶液中还是在干燥的样品上。此外，SERS 通过跟踪与沃森-克里克氢键形成相关的特定光谱标记的温度变化，允许监测 DNA 聚集过程。这种温度依赖性行为使我们能够仅通过光谱测量精确地重建所选 DNA 序列的熔解曲线。
