title: A locked nucleic acid-based nanocrawler: designed and reversible movement detected by multicolor fluorescence.
abstract: Herein we introduce a novel fluorescent LNA/DNA machine, a nanocrawler, which reversibly moves along a directionally polar complementary road controlled by affinity-enhancing locked nucleic acid (LNA) monomers and additional regulatory strands. Polyaromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) dyes attached to 2'-amino-LNA monomers are incorporated at four stations of the system, enabling simple detection of the position of the nanocrawler via a step-specific color signal. The sensing is provided by highly sensitive, chemically stable, and photostable PAH LNA interstrand communication systems, including pyrene excimer formation and pyrene-perylene interstrand Förster resonance energy transfer. We furthermore demonstrate that the nanocrawler selectively and reversibly moves along the road, followed by a bright and consistent fluorescence response for up to 10 cycles without any loss of signal.
authors: Nucleic Acid Center and Biomolecular Nanoscale Engineering Center, Department of Physics, Chemistry and Pharmacy, University of Southern Denmark, Campusvej 55, 5230 Odense M, Denmark. ias@sdu.dk
authors: I Kira
authors: IK
authors: Astakhova
authors: Karol
authors: K
authors: Pasternak
authors: Meghan A
authors: MA
authors: Campbell
authors: Pankaj
authors: P
authors: Gupta
authors: Jesper
authors: J
authors: Wengel
mesh_terms: D003116:Color; D005453:Fluorescence; D015394:Molecular Structure; D009841:Oligonucleotides / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D009841:Oligonucleotides; C477371:locked nucleic acid