Logic gates and pH sensing devices based on a supramolecular telomere DNA/conjugated polymer system

A conceptually new class of telomere DNA/conjugated polymer system has been constructed to enable sensing of pH changes and create robust logic gates capable of multiplex logic operations. It combines the advantages of quadruplex-duplex conversion and efficient energy transfer from the polymer to the DNA binding molecule. The system is simple in design, fast in operation, and allows the detection of pH changes with high accuracy and sensitivity. In addition, the approach could be adopted for the investigation of other biomolecular conformational changes upon binding to their targets. More importantly, the present logic operations showed advantages over other nucleic acid-based logic gates: (1) The system does not require any CP modification or oligonucleotide labeling, which offers the advantages of simplicity and cost efficiency. (2) The reversibility of the switch makes the logic gates feasible to realize system reset. (3) The system could be implemented to perform multiple logic functions by using distinct input signals.