Smart nanodevices that integrate the molecular recognition and signal production hold great promise for the point-of-care (POC) diagnosis applications. DNA nanostructures have been used to mediate the proximity interaction of catalytic components in order to actuate biochemical reactions, such as DNA tweezers and swinging arms. Here, we reported the development of DNA-mediated proximity assembly for actuating biochemical reactions, which was capable of sensing various bio-targets and reporting easy-to-read signals. As shown in <b>Figure 1</b>, the circuit was composed of a DNA logic-gated lock of catalytic cofactor which inhibited the spatial interaction of a cofactor with an enzyme partner. The specific molecular inputs (e.g. nucleic acids or small molecules) can trigger the conformational switch of DNA locks by mechanisms of toehold displacement and aptamer switch, exposing a DNA-linked cofactor. The subsequent assembly of an enzyme/cofactor pair actuated a reaction to produce colorimetric or fluorescence signals for detecting target molecules. This sensing circuit has been demonstrated to detect microRNA biomarkers and small molecules of adenosine. In the future, it is possible to use DNAzyme to replace enzyme/cofactor for producing signals. The DNA proximity assembly circuit only consisted of a few ssDNA strands and could be engineered to detect various molecular targets.

DNA-regulated proximity assembly circuit for molecular sensing of biotargets

Macromolecular Chemistry: The Second Century

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ACS Spring 2020 National Meeting & Expo

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.