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Updated: Jan 2, 2026
Fabrication of Electrochemical-DNA Biosensors for the Reagentless Detection of Nucleic Acids, Proteins and Small Molecules
Published on: June 1, 2011
A target-driven DNA-based molecular machine for rapid and homogeneous detection of arginine-vasopressin
Haocheng Tan1, Lu Chen, Xinyi Li
1Beijing National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences, MOE Key Laboratory of Bioorganic Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, College of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China. mengyuanli@pku.edu.cn mpzhao@pku.edu.cn.
Abstract:
Rapid detection of physiological changes of neuropeptides is of great importance as they are involved in a wide range of physiological processes and behaviors. Abnormalities in their expression level are correlated with various neurological diseases. However, current methods such as radioimmunoassay, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays and liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry relied on cumbersome operation steps and could not rapidly provide the information of their concentration fluctuations. Thus motivated, we developed a target-driven DNA-based molecular machine that could be triggered only in the presence of a specific target neuropeptide. Using arginine-vasopressin (AVP) as a model neuropeptide, we integrated the DNA-based molecular machine with fluorescence signal transduction and amplification technology. The assay was rapid and homogeneous, which offered a linear range of 75-700 pM and a limit-of-detection as low as 75 pM. It holds great potential for further applications in real-time monitoring of the variations of the AVP level in biological samples.
