A simple and highly sensitive DNAzyme-based assay for nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide by ligase-mediated inhibition of strand displacement amplification

Nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide detection based on silver nanoclusters stabilized by a dumbbell-shaped probe

We have developed a novel method for detecting nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD⁺) based on fluorescent silver nanoclusters (AgNCs) stabilized by a dumbbell-shaped DNA template containing two cytosine-loops joined in a dsDNA stem. The design involves two types of components: a dumbbell-shaped DNA template and three enzymes. In the presence of NAD⁺ as a cofactor, Escherichia coli DNA ligase (E.coli DNA ligase) catalyzes template ligation to generate a sealed (no terminal nucleotides) dumbbell-shaped structure, preventing digestion by exonuclease III (Exo III) and exonuclease I (Exo I). The loop regions of the intact template serve as sites for the deposition of highly fluorescent AgNCs. In the absence of NAD⁺, the ligation reaction does not occur, and the unsealed dumbbell-shaped template is digested into mononucleotides via cooperation of Exo III and Exo I. The destruction of the DNA template results in the agglomeration of AgNCs into silver nanoparticles with low fluorescence. The fluorescence enhancement depends on the ligation and digestion of the DNA template, allowing quantitative detection of NAD⁺ in the range of 0.5 nM-5000 nM with a detection limit of ∼0.25 nM.

Colorimetric Integrated PCR Protocol for Rapid Detection of Vibrio parahaemolyticus

Rapid detection of pathogens is of great significance for food safety and disease diagnosis. A new colorimetric method for rapid and easy detection of Vibrio parahaemolyticus (V. parahaemolyticus or Vp) has been developed in this research. A specific sequence was designed and integrated with the forward primer for molecular detection of Vp. This specific sequence was tested and treated as the horseradish peroxidase (HRP)-mimicking DNAzyme and could be amplified during the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) process. The products of PCR including the sequence of HRP-mimicking DNAzyme could produce the distinguished color in the presence of catalysis substrates. The optical signal of the catalysis reaction, which is in a linear relationship with the initial template of Vp, could be determined with the naked eye or measured with Ultraviolet-visible (UV-vis) for qualitative and quantitative detections, respectively. Based on the optical signal intensity, rapid and easy detection of Vp was successfully achieved with satisfied sensitivity and specificity. Furthermore, the detection of tdh, trh, tlh and toxR virulence genes of two Vp species (Vp 33847 and Vp 17802) were all performed successfully with this developed colorimetric integrated PCR protocol, which demonstrated potential applicability for the rapid detection of other bacteria.

Isothermal Amplification of Nucleic Acids

Isothermal amplification of nucleic acids is a simple process that rapidly and efficiently accumulates nucleic acid sequences at constant temperature. Since the early 1990s, various isothermal amplification techniques have been developed as alternatives to polymerase chain reaction (PCR). These isothermal amplification methods have been used for biosensing targets such as DNA, RNA, cells, proteins, small molecules, and ions. The applications of these techniques for in situ or intracellular bioimaging and sequencing have been amply demonstrated. Amplicons produced by isothermal amplification methods have also been utilized to construct versatile nucleic acid nanomaterials for promising applications in biomedicine, bioimaging, and biosensing. The integration of isothermal amplification into microsystems or portable devices improves nucleic acid-based on-site assays and confers high sensitivity. Single-cell and single-molecule analyses have also been implemented based on integrated microfluidic systems. In this review, we provide a comprehensive overview of the isothermal amplification of nucleic acids encompassing work published in the past two decades. First, different isothermal amplification techniques are classified into three types based on reaction kinetics. Then, we summarize the applications of isothermal amplification in bioanalysis, diagnostics, nanotechnology, materials science, and device integration. Finally, several challenges and perspectives in the field are discussed.

A label-free fluorescence strategy for selective detection of nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide based on a dumbbell-like probe with low background noise

In this work we developed a novel label-free fluorescence sensing approach for the detection of nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD(+)) based on a dumbbell-like DNA probe designed for both ligation reaction and digestion reaction with low background noise. SYBR Green I (SG I), a double-helix dye, was chosen as the readout fluorescence signal. In the absence of NAD(+), the ligation reaction did not occur, but the probe was digested to mononucleotides after the addition of exonuclease I (Exo I) and exonuclease I (Exo III), resulting in a weak fluorescence intensity due to the weak interaction between SG I and mononucleotides. In the presence of NAD(+), the DNA probe was ligated by Escherichia coli DNA ligase, blocking the digestion by Exo I and Exo III. As a result, SG I was intercalated into the stem part of the DNA dumbbell probe and fluorescence enhancement was achieved. This method was simple in design, fast to operate, with good sensitivity and selectivity which could discriminate NAD(+) from its analogs.

Label-free detection of nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide based on ligation-triggered exonuclease III-assisted signal amplification

Schematic illustration of the Exo III-assisted amplification strategy for NAD⁺ detection.

Label-free colorimetric aptasensor for sensitive detection of ochratoxin A utilizing hybridization chain reaction

The combination of high selectivity of aptamer with the peroxidase-mimicking property of DNAzyme has presented considerable opportunities for designing colorimetric aptasensor for detection of ochratoxin A (OTA). The activities of both aptamer (as biorecognition element) and DNAzyme (as signal amplification element) are blocked via base pairing in the hairpin structure. Hybridization chain reaction (HCR) between two hairpin DNAs was employed to further improve the sensitivity of this method. The presence of OTA triggers the opening of the hairpin structure and the beginning of HCR, which results in the release of many DNAzyme, and generates enhanced colorimetric signals, which is correlated to the amounts of OTA with linear range between 0.01 to 0.32 nM, and the limit of detection is 0.01 nM under optimal conditions. OTA in yellow rice wine and wheat flour samples was also detected using this method. We demonstrate that a new colorimetric method for the detection of OTA has been established, which is simple, easy to conduct, label-free, sensitive, high throughput, and cost-saving.

Synthetic multivalent DNAzymes for enhanced hydrogen peroxide catalysis and sensitive colorimetric glucose detection

A peroxidase-mimic DNAzyme is a G-quadruplex (G4) DNA-hemin complex, in which the G4-DNA resembles an apoenzyme, and hemin is the cofactor for hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) catalysis. Twenty-one-mer CatG4 is a well-proven G4-DNA as well as a hemin-binding aptamer for constituting a DNAzyme. This work studied if a multivalent DNAzyme with accelerated catalysis could be constructed using a multimeric CatG4 with hemin. We compared CatG4 monomer, dimer, trimer, and tetramer, which were prepared by custom oligo synthesis, for G4 structure formation. According to circular dichroism (CD) analysis, we found that a CatG4 multimer exhibited more active G4 conformation than the sum effect of equal-number CatG4 monomers. However, the DNAzyme kinetics was not improved monotonically along with the subunit number of a multimeric CatG4. It was the trivalent DNAzyme, trimeric CatG4:hemin, resulting in the rapidest H2O2 catalysis instead of a tetravalent one. We discovered that the trivalent DNAzyme's highest catalytic rate was correlated to its most stable hemin-binding G4 structure, evidenced by CD melting temperature analysis. Finally, a trivalent DNAzyme-based colorimetric glucose assay with a detection limit as low as 10 μM was demonstrated, and this assay did not need adenosine 5'-tri-phosphate disodium salt hydrate (ATP) as a DNAzyme boosting agent.