Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 29, 2026

DNA Nanotubes as a Versatile Tool to Study Semiflexible Polymers
Published on: October 25, 2017
DNA hybridization in nanostructural molecular assemblies enables detection of gene mutations without a fluorescent
Tatsuo Maruyama1, Lian-Chun Park, Toshimitsu Shinohara
1Department of Applied Chemistry, Graduate School of Engineering, Kyushu University, 6-10-1 Hakozaki, Higashi-ku, Fukuoka 812-8581, Japan.
Abstract:
We have developed a simple single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) analysis utilizing DNA hybridization in nanostructural molecular assemblies. The novel technique enables the detection of a single-base mismatch in a DNA sequence without a fluorescent probe. This report describes for the first time that DNA hybridization occurs in the nanostructural molecular assemblies (termed reverse micelles) formed in an organic medium. The restricted nanospace in the reverse micelles amplifies the differences in the hybridization rate between mismatched and perfectly matched DNA probes. For a model system, we hybridized a 20-mer based on the p53 gene sequence to 20-mer complementary oligonucleotides with various types of mismatches. Without any DNA labeling or electrochemical apparatus, we successfully detected the various oligonucleotide mismatches by simply measuring the UV absorbance at 260 nm.
Related Concept Videos
FISH - Fluorescent In-situ Hybridization
DNA Microarrays
Labeling DNA Probes
Radioisotopes, fluorophores, or small molecule binding partners like biotin or digoxigenin, are the most widely used reporter tags for labeling DNA probes. These labels can be attached to the probe DNA molecule via...
In-situ Hybridization
Types of probes and labels
A probe is a complementary strand of DNA or RNA that binds to corresponding nucleotide sequences in a cell. Many...

