title: Luminescent probes for ultrasensitive detection of nucleic acids.
abstract: Novel amino-reactive derivatives of lanthanide-based luminescent labels of enhanced brightness and metal retention were synthesized and used for the detection of cDNA oligonucleotides by molecular beacons. Time-resolved acquisition of the luminescent signal that occurs upon hybridization of the probe to the target enabled the avoidance of short-lived background fluorescence, markedly enhancing the sensitivity of detection, which was less than 1 pM. This value is about 50 to 100 times more sensitive than the level achieved with conventional fluorescence-based molecular beacons, and is 10 to 60 times more sensitive than previously reported for other lanthanide-based hybridization probes. These novel luminescent labels should significantly enhance the sensitivity of all type of nucleic acid hybridization probes, and could dramatically improve the detection limit of other biopolymers and small compounds that are used in a variety of biological applications.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry and Environmental Sciences, New Jersey Institute of Technology, 151 Tiernan Hall, University Heights, Newark, New Jersey 07102, USA.
authors.forename: Lev N
authors.initials: LN
authors.lastname: Krasnoperov
authors.forename: Salvatore A E
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Marras
authors.forename: Maxim
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kozlov
authors.forename: Laura
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Wirpsza
authors.forename: Arkady
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Mustaev
mesh_terms: D000042:Absorption; D001483:Base Sequence; D002614:Chelating Agents / Q000737:chemistry; D004492:Edetic Acid / Q000031:analogs & derivatives / Q000737:chemistry; D007700:Kinetics; D028581:Lanthanoid Series Elements / Q000737:chemistry; D049408:Luminescent Agents / Q000138:chemical synthesis / Q000737:chemistry*; D015335:Molecular Probes / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism; D009696:Nucleic Acids / Q000032:analysis* / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D004369:Pentetic Acid / Q000737:chemistry; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D013050:Spectrometry, Fluorescence
chemical_list: D002614:Chelating Agents; D028581:Lanthanoid Series Elements; D049408:Luminescent Agents; D015335:Molecular Probes; D009696:Nucleic Acids; D004369:Pentetic Acid; C026059:triethylenetetraminehexaacetic acid; D004492:Edetic Acid