title: Aptazyme-Gold Nanoparticle Sensor for Amplified Molecular Probing in Living Cells.
abstract: To date, a few of DNAzyme-based sensors have been successfully developed in living cells; however, the intracellular aptazyme sensor has remained underdeveloped. Here, the first aptazyme sensor for amplified molecular probing in living cells is developed. A gold nanoparticle (AuNP) is modified with substrate strands hybridized to aptazyme strands. Only the target molecule can activate the aptazyme and then cleave and release the fluorophore-labeled substrate strands from the AuNP, resulting in fluorescence enhancement. The process is repeated so that each copy of target can cleave multiplex fluorophore-labeled substrate strands, amplifying the fluorescence signal. Results show that the detection limit is about 200 nM, which is 2 or 3 orders of magnitude lower than that of the reported aptamer-based adenosine triphosphate (ATP) sensors used in living cells. Furthermore, it is demonstrated that the aptazyme sensor can readily enter living cells and realize intracellular target detection.
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Chemo/Biosensing and Chemometrics, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Key Laboratory for Bio-Nanotechnology and Molecular Engineering of Hunan Province, Hunan University , Changsha 410082, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Yanjing
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Chemo/Biosensing and Chemometrics, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Key Laboratory for Bio-Nanotechnology and Molecular Engineering of Hunan Province, Hunan University , Changsha 410082, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Jin
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Chemo/Biosensing and Chemometrics, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Key Laboratory for Bio-Nanotechnology and Molecular Engineering of Hunan Province, Hunan University , Changsha 410082, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Xiaohai
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Chemo/Biosensing and Chemometrics, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Key Laboratory for Bio-Nanotechnology and Molecular Engineering of Hunan Province, Hunan University , Changsha 410082, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Ke
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Quan
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Chemo/Biosensing and Chemometrics, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Key Laboratory for Bio-Nanotechnology and Molecular Engineering of Hunan Province, Hunan University , Changsha 410082, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: He
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Chemo/Biosensing and Chemometrics, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Key Laboratory for Bio-Nanotechnology and Molecular Engineering of Hunan Province, Hunan University , Changsha 410082, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Le
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Ying
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Chemo/Biosensing and Chemometrics, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Key Laboratory for Bio-Nanotechnology and Molecular Engineering of Hunan Province, Hunan University , Changsha 410082, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Nuli
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Xie
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Chemo/Biosensing and Chemometrics, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Key Laboratory for Bio-Nanotechnology and Molecular Engineering of Hunan Province, Hunan University , Changsha 410082, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Min
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ou
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Chemo/Biosensing and Chemometrics, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Key Laboratory for Bio-Nanotechnology and Molecular Engineering of Hunan Province, Hunan University , Changsha 410082, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Kemin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Wang
mesh_terms: D052157:Aptamers, Nucleotide / Q000737:chemistry*; D015374:Biosensing Techniques / Q000379:methods*; D002470:Cell Survival; D005453:Fluorescence; D006046:Gold / Q000737:chemistry*; D006367:HeLa Cells; D006801:Humans; D008274:Magnesium / Q000032:analysis*; D053768:Metal Nanoparticles / Q000737:chemistry*; D015335:Molecular Probes / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D052157:Aptamers, Nucleotide; D015335:Molecular Probes; D006046:Gold; D008274:Magnesium