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Updated: Feb 5, 2026

Quantitative, Real-time Analysis of Base Excision Repair Activity in Cell Lysates Utilizing Lesion-specific Molecular Beacons
Published on: August 6, 2012
Design strategy for a novel electrochemically active-inactive switching molecular beacon based on Hemin for SNPs and
Shiyan Dai1, Wei Zhang1, Shuang Shao1
1College of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, East China Normal University, Shanghai 200241, China.
Abstract:
Herein, a novel and convenient electrochemically active-inactive switching molecular beacon based on hemin (Hs-MB) has been designed for easy discrimination of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and sensitive detection of insulin. The electrochemically active changing capability of Hs-MB is based on two identical hemin groups labeled at both ends of MB sequence in dimer or monomer forms depending on the conformation of MB which is in stem-loop structure or line shaped structure. The Hs-MB assay permits discrimination of SNPs and the highly sensitive and specific detection of insulin with detection limit successively as low as 0.5 pmol/L. Even at a very low target concentration, the Hs-MB assay also shows a good specificity in the presence of other potentially interfering components. The experimental results also show that Hs-MB can also be used for the accurate and rapid monitoring of insulin secretion by glucose-stimulated from MIN6 cells at different time periods, demonstrating that Hs-MB has potential in monitoring of biomarker variation in vivo.
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