title: Highly sensitive oligonucleotide-based fluorometric detection of mercury(II) in aqueous media.
abstract: This paper describes a highly sensitive and selective Hg(2+) sensor using a label free Hg(2+) specific probe (5'-18T-3') and an intercalation dye SYBR Green I (SG). The Hg(2+) specific probe is composed of thymines (T) and readily forms T-Hg(2+)-T complexes in the presence of Hg(2+). This specific T-Hg(2+)-T formation affects the hybridization of the Hg(2+) specific probe and the intercalation of SG. Upon treatment of 1 nM 5'-18T-3' with different amount of Hg(2+) (0.1-10nM), which is followed by hybridization with 1 nM 5'-18T-3' and incubation with 1 microL of SG, the solution fluorescence gave a linear response (R=0.996) to the concentration of Hg(2+). The detection limit for Hg(2+) was 0.5 nM (0.1 ppb). The overall test only takes few minutes and very little interference is observed from non-specific metal ions. This approach may find potential applications in monitoring the Hg(2+) concentration in drinking water.
authors: Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, 4 Engineering Drive 4, National University of Singapore, Singapore 117576, Singapore.
authors: Bin
authors: B
authors: Liu
mesh_terms: D015374:Biosensing Techniques / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods; D004867:Equipment Design; D019544:Equipment Failure Analysis; D005470:Fluorometry / Q000295:instrumentation*; D008628:Mercury / Q000032:analysis*; D020411:Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis / Q000295:instrumentation*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D014867:Water / Q000737:chemistry*; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical / Q000032:analysis*
chemical_list: D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical; D014867:Water; D008628:Mercury