title: Silicon nanowire-based molecular beacons for high-sensitivity and sequence-specific DNA multiplexed analysis.
abstract: Nanomaterial-based molecular beacons (nanoMBs) have been extensively explored due to unique merits of nanostructures, including gold nanoparticle (AuNP)-, carbon nanotube (CNT)-, and graphene-based nanoMBs. Those nanoMBs are well-studied; however, they possess relatively poor salt stability or low specificity, limiting their wide applications. Here, we present a novel kind of multicolor silicon-based nanoMBs by using AuNP-decorated silicon nanowires as high-performance quenchers. Significantly, the nanoMBs feature robust stability in high-concentration (0.1 M) salt solution and wide-ranging temperature (10-80 °C), high quenching efficiency (>90%) for various fluorophores (e.g., FAM, Cy5, and ROX), and large surfaces for simultaneous assembly of different DNA strands. We further show that silicon-based nanoMBs are highly effective for sensitive and specific multidetection of DNA targets. The unprecedented advantages of silicon-based multicolor nanoMBs would bring new opportunities for challenging bioapplications, such as allele discrimination, early cancer diagnosis, and molecular engineering, etc.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Functional Nano & Soft Materials (FUNSOM) and Jiangsu Key Laboratory for Carbon-Based Functional Materials & Devices, Soochow University, Suzhou 215123, China.
authors.forename: Shao
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Su
authors.forename: Xinpan
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Wei
authors.forename: Yiling
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhong
authors.forename: Yuanyuan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Guo
authors.forename: Yuanyuan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Su
authors.forename: Qing
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.forename: Shuit-Tong
authors.initials: ST
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Chunhai
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Fan
authors.forename: Yao
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: He
mesh_terms: D001483:Base Sequence; D003116:Color; D004247:DNA / Q000032:analysis* / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000235:genetics; D015342:DNA Probes / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000235:genetics; D006046:Gold / Q000737:chemistry; D053768:Metal Nanoparticles / Q000737:chemistry; D053770:Nanowires / Q000737:chemistry*; D012492:Salts / Q000737:chemistry; D012825:Silicon / Q000737:chemistry*; D013696:Temperature
chemical_list: D015342:DNA Probes; D012492:Salts; D006046:Gold; D004247:DNA; D012825:Silicon