title: Monitoring the hydration of DNA self-assembled monolayers using an extensional nanomechanical resonator.
abstract: We have fabricated an ultrasensitive nanomechanical resonator based on the extensional vibration mode to weigh the adsorbed water on self-assembled monolayers of DNA as a function of the relative humidity. The water adsorption isotherms provide the number of adsorbed water molecules per nucleotide for monolayers of single stranded (ss) DNA and after hybridization with the complementary DNA strand. Our results differ from previous data obtained with bulk samples, showing the genuine behavior of these self-assembled monolayers. The hybridization cannot be inferred from the water adsorption isotherms due to the low hybridization efficiency of these highly packed monolayers. Strikingly, we efficiently detect the hybridization by measuring the thermal desorption of water at constant relativity humidity. This finding adds a new nanomechanical tool for developing a label-free nucleic acid sensor based on the interaction between water and self-assembled monolayers of nucleic acids.
authors.affiliation: DTU-Nanotech, Kgs. Lyngby, Denmark. Alberto.Cagliani@nanotech.dtu.dk
authors.forename: Alberto
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Cagliani
authors.forename: Priscila
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Kosaka
authors.forename: Javier
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Tamayo
authors.forename: Zachary James
authors.initials: ZJ
authors.lastname: Davis
mesh_terms: D000327:Adsorption; D004247:DNA / Q000378:metabolism*; D015342:DNA Probes / Q000378:metabolism; D004277:DNA, Single-Stranded / Q000378:metabolism; D006046:Gold / Q000737:chemistry; D006813:Humidity; D036103:Nanotechnology / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods; D009693:Nucleic Acid Hybridization; D013696:Temperature; D014867:Water / Q000737:chemistry
chemical_list: D015342:DNA Probes; D004277:DNA, Single-Stranded; D014867:Water; D006046:Gold; D004247:DNA