title: Quencher-free molecular beacons: a new strategy in fluorescence based nucleic acid analysis.
abstract: Molecular beacons (MBs) have been used as viable fluorescent probes in nucleic acid analysis. Many researchers around the world continue to modify the MBs to suit their needs. As a result, a number of nucleic acid probing systems with close resemblance to the MBs are being reported from time to time. Quencher-free molecular beacons (QF-MBs) are a significant modification of the conventional MB; in QF-MBs the quencher part has been eliminated. Despite the absence of the quencher, the QF-MBs can identify specific target DNA. They can also be used in SNP typing and in real-time PCR analysis for quantification of DNAs. The design, factors behind functioning and applications of different types of QF-MBs and closely related quencher-free nucleic acid probing systems (QF-NAPs) have been described in this tutorial review.
authors: Laboratory for Modified Nucleic Acid Systems, Department of Chemistry, BK School of Molecular Science, Pohang University of Science and Technology, Pohang 790-784, Korea.
authors: Natarajan
authors: N
authors: Venkatesan
authors: Young Jun
authors: YJ
authors: Seo
authors: Byeang Hyean
authors: BH
authors: Kim
mesh_terms: D001483:Base Sequence; D015374:Biosensing Techniques; D004247:DNA / Q000032:analysis* / Q000737:chemistry; D005456:Fluorescent Dyes / Q000737:chemistry*; D009690:Nucleic Acid Conformation; D015341:Nucleic Acid Probes / Q000737:chemistry*; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D013050:Spectrometry, Fluorescence
chemical_list: D005456:Fluorescent Dyes; D015341:Nucleic Acid Probes; D004247:DNA