Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 9, 2026

Detection of Bacteria Using Fluorogenic DNAzymes
Published on: May 28, 2012
Sequence-enabled reassembly of beta-lactamase (SEER-LAC): a sensitive method for the detection of double-stranded DNA
Aik T Ooi1, Cliff I Stains, Indraneel Ghosh
1Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona 85721, USA.
Abstract:
This work describes the development of a new methodology for the detection of specific double-stranded DNA sequences. We previously showed that two inactive fragments of green fluorescent protein, each coupled to engineered zinc finger DNA-binding proteins, were able to reassemble an active reporter complex in the presence of a predefined DNA sequence. This system, designated sequence-enabled reassembly (SEER), was demonstrated in vitro to produce a DNA-concentration-dependent signal. Here we endow the SEER system with catalytic capability using the reporter enzyme TEM-1 beta-lacatamase. This system could distinguish target DNA from nontarget DNA in less than 5 min, representing a more than 1000-fold improvement over our previous SEER design. A single base-pair substitution in the DNA binding sequence reduced the signal to nearly background levels. Substitution of a different custom zinc finger DNA-binding domain produced a signal only on the new cognate target. Signal intensity was not affected by genomic DNA when present in equal mass to the target DNA. These results present SEER as a rapid and sensitive method for the detection of double-stranded DNA sequences.
More Related Videos
07:55Detection of Homologous Recombination Intermediates via Proximity Ligation and Quantitative PCR in Saccharomyces cerevisiae
Published on: September 11, 2022
07:59Rapid and Specific Detection of Acinetobacter baumannii Infections Using a Recombinase Polymerase Amplification/Cas12a-based System
Published on: April 25, 2025
Related Concept Videos
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...
Southern Blot
Denatured DNA fragments must be transferred onto a carrier membrane from the gel to make it accessible to a probe - a small ssDNA fragment complementary to the target DNA...
Sanger Sequencing
Single-Strand DNA Binding Proteins
Maxam-Gilbert Sequencing
Challenges of the Maxam-Gilbert Method
The...