UWSpace is currently experiencing technical difficulties resulting from its recent migration to a new version of its software. These technical issues are not affecting the submission and browse features of the site. UWaterloo community members may continue submitting items to UWSpace. We apologize for the inconvenience, and are actively working to resolve these technical issues.
 

DNA stabilized fluorescent metal nanoclusters for biosensor development

Loading...
Thumbnail Image

Date

2014-03-22

Authors

Liu, Juewen

Journal Title

Journal ISSN

Volume Title

Publisher

Elsevier

Abstract

Fluorescent silver, gold and copper nanoclusters (NCs) have emerged for biosensor development. Compared to semiconductor quantum dots, there is less concern about the toxicity of metal NCs, which can be more easily conjugated to biopolymers. These NCs need a stabilizing ligand. Many polymers, proteins and nucleic acids stabilize NCs, and many DNA sequences produce highly-fluorescent NCs. Coupling these DNA stabilizers with other sequences, such as aptamers, has generated a large number of biosensors. We summarize the synthesis of DNA and nucleotide-templated NCs; and, we discuss their chemical interactions. We briefly review properties of NCs, such as fluorescence quantum yield, emission wavelength and lifetime, structure and photostability. We categorize sensor-design strategies using these NCs into: (1) fluorescence de-quenching; (2) generation of templating DNA sequences to produce NCs; (3) change of nearby environment; and, (4) reacting with heavy metal ions or other quenchers. Finally, we discuss future trends.

Description

The final publication is available at Elsevier via https://doi.org/10.1016/j.trac.2013.12.014." © 2014. This manuscript version is made available under the CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 license http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/

Keywords

Aptamer, Biosensor, Conjugation, De-quenching, DNA, Fluorescence, Metal, Nucleotide template, Nanocluster, Quenching

LC Keywords

Citation