title: Probing Cellular Molecules with PolyA-Based Engineered Aptamer Nanobeacon.
abstract: Adenosine triphosphate (ATP) is a central metabolite that is of critical importance in many cellular processes. The development of sensitive and selective methods for the detection of ATP level in vivo is crucial in diagnostic and theranostic applications. In this work, we have developed a polyA-based aptamer nanobeacon (PAaptNB) with improved efficiency and speed of ATP analysis. We found that the dissociation constants and competitive binding kinetics of the PAaptNB could be programmably regulated by adjusting the polyA length. When the polyA length reached to 30 bases, a 10 μM detection limit for ATP assay with PAaptNB can be achieved (∼10-fold improvement compared with the conventional thiol-based aptamer nanobeacon). The feasibility of the PAaptNB for in vivo assay was further demonstrated by imaging intracellular ATP molecules. This study provides a new strategy to construct high-efficiency and high-speed biosensors for cellular molecules analysis, which holds great potential in bioanalysis and theranostic applications.
authors.affiliation: Shanghai Key Laboratory of Green Chemistry and Chemical Processes, School of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, East China Normal University , 500 Dongchuan Road, Shanghai 200241, PR China.
authors.forename: Lizhen
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Institute of Advanced Materials, Nanjing University of Posts and Telecommunications , Nanjing 210023, PR China.
authors.forename: Jie
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Chao
authors.affiliation: Shanghai Key Laboratory of Green Chemistry and Chemical Processes, School of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, East China Normal University , 500 Dongchuan Road, Shanghai 200241, PR China.
authors.forename: Xiangmeng
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Qu
authors.affiliation: Division of Pharmaceutical Chemistry and Technology, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Helsinki , FI-00014 Helsinki, Finland.
authors.forename: Hongbo
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Institute of Advanced Materials, Nanjing University of Posts and Telecommunications , Nanjing 210023, PR China.
authors.forename: Dan
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.affiliation: Institute of Advanced Materials, Nanjing University of Posts and Telecommunications , Nanjing 210023, PR China.
authors.forename: Shao
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Su
authors.affiliation: Chemistry Department, King Saud University , Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia.
authors.forename: Ali
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Aldalbahi
authors.affiliation: Institute of Advanced Materials, Nanjing University of Posts and Telecommunications , Nanjing 210023, PR China.
authors.forename: Lianhui
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Shanghai Key Laboratory of Green Chemistry and Chemical Processes, School of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, East China Normal University , 500 Dongchuan Road, Shanghai 200241, PR China.
authors.forename: Hao
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-6885-6708
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Pei
mesh_terms: D000255:Adenosine Triphosphate; D052157:Aptamers, Nucleotide; D015374:Biosensing Techniques; D006046:Gold; D057230:Limit of Detection; D049329:Nanostructures; D011061:Poly A / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D052157:Aptamers, Nucleotide; D011061:Poly A; D006046:Gold; D000255:Adenosine Triphosphate
keywords: aptamer; cellular analysis; nanobeacon; self-assembly; spherical nucleic acid; surface engineering