title: Reversible molecular switching of molecular beacon: controlling DNA hybridization kinetics and thermodynamics using mercury(ii) ions.
abstract: We report that the hydrogen-bonding pattern in a molecular beacon can be replaced by metal-dependent pairs of Hg(2+) and DNA thymine (T) bases. A molecular beacon based on T-Hg(2+)-T exhibits a lower background signal and higher thermostability than regular molecular beacons.
authors.affiliation: State Key Lab of Chemo/Biosensing and Chemometrics, Biomedical Engineering Center, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Hunan University, Changsa, 410082, China. Yangrh@pku.edu.cn
authors.forename: Ronghua
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: Jianyu
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Jin
authors.forename: Liping
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Long
authors.forename: Yongxiang
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Hao
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Weihong
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Tan
mesh_terms: D001483:Base Sequence; D015342:DNA Probes / Q000737:chemistry*; D005456:Fluorescent Dyes / Q000737:chemistry; D007700:Kinetics; D008628:Mercury / Q000737:chemistry*; D009693:Nucleic Acid Hybridization / Q000379:methods*; D013816:Thermodynamics; D013941:Thymine / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D015342:DNA Probes; D005456:Fluorescent Dyes; D008628:Mercury; D013941:Thymine