title: Molecular beacons for bioanalytical applications.
abstract: Molecular beacons (MBs) are hairpin-shaped oligonucleotides that contain both fluorophore and quencher moieties. They act like switches and are normally in a closed state, when the fluorophore and the quencher are brought together to turn "off" the fluorescence. When prompted to undergo conformational changes that open the hairpin structure, the fluorophore and the quencher are separated, and fluorescence is turned "on." This Education will outline the principles of MBs and discuss recent bioanalytical applications of these probes for in vitro RNA and DNA monitoring, biosensors and biochips, real-time monitoring of genes and gene expression in living systems, as well as the next generation of MBs for studies on proteins, the MB aptamers. These important applications have shown that MBs hold great potential in genomics and proteomics where real-time molecular recognition with high sensitivity and excellent specificity is critical.
authors.affiliation: Center for Research at the Bio/Nano Interface, Department of Chemistry and McKnight Brain Institute, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida 32611-7200, USA. tan@chem.ufl.edu
authors.forename: Li
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Tan
authors.forename: Ying
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Timothy J
authors.initials: TJ
authors.lastname: Drake
authors.forename: Leonid
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Moroz
authors.forename: Kemin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Jun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Alina
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Munteanu
authors.forename: James Yang
authors.initials: JY
authors.lastname: Chaoyong
authors.forename: Karen
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Martinez
authors.forename: Weihong
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Tan
mesh_terms: D015374:Biosensing Techniques; D023281:Genomics / Q000379:methods; D015336:Molecular Probe Techniques; D015345:Oligonucleotide Probes; D040901:Proteomics / Q000379:methods
chemical_list: D015345:Oligonucleotide Probes