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Updated: Feb 19, 2026
Combining QD-FRET and Microfluidics to Monitor DNA Nanocomplex Self-Assembly in Real-Time
Published on: August 26, 2009
Polyethylenimine-coated Fe3O4 nanoparticles effectively quench fluorescent DNA, which can be developed as a novel
Long Ma1, Nana Sun, Jinyan Zhang
1Key Laboratory of Industrial Fermentation Microbiology, Ministry of Education, School of Biotechnology, Tianjin University of Science & Technology, Tianjin 300457, China. malong@tust.edu.cn woshimalong1983@163.com diaoaipo@tust.edu.cn msl@tust.edu.cn.
Abstract:
We report a novel assembly of polyethyleneimine (PEI)-coated Fe3O4 nanoparticles (NPs) with single-stranded DNA (ssDNA), and the fluorescence of the dye labeled in the DNA is remarkably quenched. In the presence of a target protein, the protein-DNA aptamer mutual interaction releases the ssDNA from this assembly and hence restores the fluorescence. This feature could be adopted to develop an aptasensor for protein detection. As a proof-of-concept, for the first time, we have used this proposed sensing strategy to detect thrombin selectively and sensitively. Furthermore, simultaneous multiple detection of thrombin and lysozyme in a complex protein mixture has been proven to be possible.
