title: A Universal Polymerase Chain Reaction Developer.
abstract: The versatility of PCR, the gold standard for amplification of DNA targets, is hampered by the laborious, multi-step detection based on gel electrophoresis. We propose a one-step, one-tube method for the rapid (5 min) naked-eye detection of PCR products, based on controlled aggregation of gold nanoparticles. Our method is universal, instrument-free, and ultra-sensitive, as it could detect as low as 0.01 zeptomoles of HIV template DNA in an excess of interfering human genomic DNA.
authors.affiliation: Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia (IIT), Via Morego, 30, 16163, Genova, Italy.
authors.forename: Paola
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Valentini
authors.affiliation: Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia (IIT), Via Morego, 30, 16163, Genova, Italy. pierpaolo.pompa@iit.it.
authors.forename: Pier Paolo
authors.initials: PP
authors.lastname: Pompa
mesh_terms: D004247:DNA / Q000032:analysis / Q000235:genetics; D006046:Gold / Q000737:chemistry*; D006678:HIV / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification; D006801:Humans; D053768:Metal Nanoparticles / Q000737:chemistry*; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction / Q000379:methods*
chemical_list: D006046:Gold; D004247:DNA
keywords: DNA detection; colorimetric sensing; gold nanoparticles; polymerase chain reaction