Oncogene related miRNAs are growing rapidly as important biomarkers for the detection of tumors as well as overall patient prognosis. Therefore, much effort has been devoted to the detection of miRNAs with each current sensing technique (such as Northern Blots, PCR, and next-generation sequencing) carrying its own limitations. Thus, there is still a need for simple, cost effective, and accurate miRNA sensing systems.<br/>Herein we introduce a fluorescent miRNA reporter system that utilizes Watson-Crick-Franklin toehold mediated strand displacement coupled with orthogonal and high fidelity Cucurbituril-7 (CB7)-guest (adamantane) based molecular recognition to detect miRNA-182 (an RNA involved in pro-proliferative signaling pathways and tumor invasions). Our system functions by miRNA-182 binding to an anchor strand on a magnetic microparticle, which in turn releases an adamantane-DNA conjugate. This conjugate activates the release of a fluorescent reporter strand via host-guest chemistry, thereby indicating the presence of miRNA-182. This presentation will detail the synthesis and characterization of various small molecule DNA conjugates, the development of the DNA-microparticle systems, as well as the design and evaluation of the miRNA sensing platform.

Detection of miRNA via DNA strand displacement reactions and supramolecular chemistry

ACS Spring 2022

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