Understanding FRET in Upconversion Nanoparticle Nucleic Acid Biosensors.

Upconversion nanoparticles (UCNPs) have been frequently applied in Förster resonance energy transfer (FRET) bioanalysis. However, the understanding of how surface coatings, bioconjugation, and dye-surface distance influence FRET biosensing performance has not significantly advanced. Here, we investigated UCNP-to-dye FRET DNA-hybridization assays in HO and DO using ∼24 nm large NaYF:Yb,Er UCNPs coated with thin layers of silica (SiO) or poly(acrylic acid) (PAA). FRET resulted in strong distance-dependent PL intensity changes. However, the PL decay times were not significantly altered because of continuous Yb-to-Er energy migration during Er-to-dye FRET. Direct bioconjugation of DNA to the thin PAA coating combined with the closest possible dye-surface distance resulted in optimal FRET performance with minor influence from competitive quenching by HO. The better comprehension of UCNP-to-dye FRET was successfully translated into a microRNA (miR-20a) FRET assay with a limit of detection of 100 fmol in a 80 μL sample volume.