Integrating DNA strand displacement circuitry to the nonlinear hybridization chain reaction.
Programmable and modular attributes of DNA molecules allow one to develop versatile sensing platforms that can be operated isothermally and enzyme-free. In this work, we present an approach to integrate upstream DNA strand displacement circuits that can be turned on by a sequence-specific microRNA analyte with a downstream nonlinear hybridization chain reaction for a cascading hyperbranched nucleic acid assembly. This system provides a two-step amplification strategy for highly sensitive detection of the miRNA analyte, conducive for multiplexed detection. Multiple miRNA analytes were tested with our integrated circuitry using the same downstream signal amplification setting, showing the decoupling of nonlinear self-assembly with the analyte sequence. Compared with the reported methods, our signal amplification approach provides an additional control module for higher-order DNA self-assembly and could be developed into a promising platform for the detection of critical nucleic-acid based biomarkers.
Division of Biomedical Engineering, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Hong Kong, China. kehsing@ust.hk.
Zhuo
Z
Zhang
Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Hong Kong, China.
Tsz Wing
TW
Fan
Division of Biomedical Engineering, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Hong Kong, China. kehsing@ust.hk and Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Hong Kong, China.
I-Ming
http://orcid.org/0000-0002-3326-3021
IM
Hsing
D004247:DNA / Q000737:chemistry*; D035683:MicroRNAs / Q000737:chemistry*; D021141:Nucleic Acid Amplification Techniques; D009693:Nucleic Acid Hybridization
D035683:MicroRNAs; D004247:DNA