title: Fast nucleotide identification through fingerprinting using gold nanoparticle-based surface-assisted laser desorption/ionisation.
abstract: We report a method centred on gold nanoparticle-based surface-assisted laser desorption/ionisation for analysis of deoxynucleotides and alkylated nucleobases. Gold nanoparticles allow for enhanced analysis capability by eliminating undesired signature peaks; thus more elegant mass spectra can be attained that allow identification by nucleotide mass fingerprint. The resulting fingerprinting patterns on the spectra are compared and associated with the presence of different nucleotides in the sample. This method can be easily extended to modified nucleotides implicated in genome lesions due to exposure to environment chemicals, such as DNA adducts (e.g. guanine adducts). The use of gold nanoparticles for surface-assisted laser desorption/ionisation can be an useful tool to resolve common issues of background noise when analysing nucleic acids samples.
authors.affiliation: CIGMH, Departamento Ciências da Vida, Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Campus de Caparica, 2829-516 Caparica, Portugal.
authors.forename: Miguel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Larguinho
authors.forename: José L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Capelo
authors.forename: Pedro V
authors.initials: PV
authors.lastname: Baptista
mesh_terms: D018736:DNA Adducts / Q000032:analysis*; D006046:Gold / Q000737:chemistry*; D013058:Mass Spectrometry / Q000379:methods*; D053768:Metal Nanoparticles; D046529:Microscopy, Electron, Transmission; D013499:Surface Properties
chemical_list: D018736:DNA Adducts; D006046:Gold