Fuzzy logic sensing of G-quadruplex DNA and its cleavage reagents based on reduced graphene oxide

Herein, by combining the merits of nanotechnology and fuzzy logic theory, we develop a simple, label-free, and general strategy based on an organic dye-graphene hybrid system for fluorescence intelligent sensing of G-quadruplexes (G4) formation, hydroxyl radical (HO∙), and Fe(2+) in vitro. By exploiting acridine orange (AO) dyes-graphene as a nanofilter and nanoswitch and the ability of graphene to interact with DNA with different structures, our approach can efficiently distinguish, quantitatively detect target analytes. In vitro assays with G4DNA demonstrated increases in fluorescence intensity of the AO-rGO system with a linear range of 16-338 nM and a detection limit as low as 2.0 nM. The requenched fluorescence of the G4TBA-AO-rGO system has a non-linear response to Fenton reagent. But this requenching reduces the fluorescence intensity in a manner proportional to the logarithm to the base 10 of the concentration of Fenton reagent in the range of 0.1-100 μM and 100-2000 μM, respectively. Furthermore, we develop a novel and intelligent sensing method based on fuzzy logic which mimics human reasoning, solves complex and non-linear problems, and transforms the numerical output into the language description output for potential application in biochemical systems, environmental monitoring systems, and molecular-level fuzzy logic computing system.