title: Label-free fluorescent DNA biosensors based on metallointercalators and nanomaterials.
abstract: DNA based biosensors have become increasingly important in medical diagnostics, genetic and drug screening, and forensics in this post-genomic era. Chemical labeling methods suffer from several drawbacks, which are tedious, cost-expensive and time-consuming, thus the development of simple and general label free strategies is being demanded. The present article introduces a new model of biosensor device based on both metallointercalators and nanomaterials, with the aim of highlighting, in particular, the use of the "label-free" strategy for the construction of simple and inexpensive sensing platforms. In this work, two strategies were developed for designing "label-free" sensors: (1) metallointercalators act as the quencher to nanomaterials; (2) nanomaterials act as the quencher to metallointercalators. These methods take advantage of the sensitive luminescence signal change of metallointercalators or nanomaterials upon analytes binding. By monitoring the luminescence change, we were able to detect metal ions and biomolecules. Compared to other label-free fluorescent methods, these "label-free" DNA biosensors provide fast, simple, economical, sensitive and selective detection of target analytes with specific probes.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Tongji University, Shanghai 200092, PR China. Electronic address: shishuo@tongji.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Shuo
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Shi
authors.forename: Xin
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Wenliang
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.forename: Xiangyang
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Tianming
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Yao
authors.forename: Liangnian
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Ji
mesh_terms: D015374:Biosensing Techniques; D056831:Coordination Complexes / Q000737:chemistry*; D004277:DNA, Single-Stranded / Q000737:chemistry*; D005456:Fluorescent Dyes / Q000737:chemistry*; D007364:Intercalating Agents / Q000737:chemistry*; D057230:Limit of Detection; D049329:Nanostructures / Q000737:chemistry*; D012428:Ruthenium / Q000737:chemistry; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D013050:Spectrometry, Fluorescence
chemical_list: D056831:Coordination Complexes; D004277:DNA, Single-Stranded; D005456:Fluorescent Dyes; D007364:Intercalating Agents; D012428:Ruthenium
keywords: Biosensors; Fluorescence; Label-free; Metallointercalators; Nanomaterials