Nature Biotechnology
19, 365 - 370 (2001)
doi:10.1038/86762
Single-mismatch detection using gold-quenched fluorescent oligonucleotidesBenoit Dubertret1, Michel Calame1, 2
& Albert J. Libchaber11
Center for Studies in Physics and Biology, The Rockefeller University, 1230 York Avenue, New York, NY 10021. 2
Current address: Institute of Physics, Klingelbergstrasse 82, CH-4056 Basel, Switzerland.
Correspondence should be addressed to Benoit Dubertret benoit@pollux.rockefeller.eduHere we describe a hybrid material composed of a single-stranded DNA (ssDNA) molecule, a 1.4 nm diameter gold nanoparticle, and a fluorophore that is highly quenched by the nanoparticle through a distance-dependent process. The fluorescence of this hybrid molecule increases by a factor of as much as several thousand as it binds to a complementary ssDNA. We show that this composite molecule is a different type of molecular beacon with a sensitivity enhanced up to 100-fold. In competitive hybridization assays, the ability to detect single mismatch is eightfold greater with this probe than with other molecular beacons.
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