Fluorescence detection of DNA, adenosine-5′-triphosphate (ATP), and telomerase activity by zinc(II)-protoporphyrin IX/G-quadruplex labels

Zhanxia Zhang, Etery Sharon, Ronit Freeman, Xiaoqing Liu, Itamar Willner*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

150 Scopus citations

Abstract

The zinc(II)-protoporphyrin IX (ZnPPIX) fluorophore binds to G-quadruplexes, and this results in the enhanced fluorescence of the fluorophore. This property enabled the development of DNA sensors, aptasensors, and a sensor following telomerase activity. The DNA sensor is based on the design of a hairpin structure that includes a "caged" inactive G-quadruplex sequence. Upon opening the hairpin by the analyte DNA, the resulting fluorescence of the ZnPPIX/G-quadruplex provides the readout signal for the sensing event (detection limit 5 nM). Addition of Exonuclease III to the system allows the recycling of the analyte and its amplified analysis (detection limit, 200 pM). The association of the ZnPPIX to G-quadruplex aptamer-substrate complexes allowed the detection of adenosine-5′- triphosphate (ATP, detection limit 10 μM). Finally, the association of ZnPPIX to the G-quadruplex repeat units of telomers allowed the detection of telomerase activity originating from 380 ± 20 cancer 293T cell extract.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)4789-4797
Number of pages9
JournalAnalytical Chemistry
Volume84
Issue number11
DOIs
StatePublished - 5 Jun 2012

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