A Spherical Nucleic Acid Probe Based on the Au-Se Bond.

Area of Science:

• Nanotechnology
• Biomedical Engineering
• Molecular Biology

Background:

• Spherical nucleic acid probes (SNAPs) offer advantages over linear nucleic acids.
• Gold nanoparticle-based SNAPs (AuNPs) are used in diagnostics and therapy.
• Biothiols in cells disrupt Au-S bonds in AuNPs, limiting SNAP performance.

Purpose of the Study:

• To design and prepare a novel Au-Se bond-based SNAP (SNAP-Se) to overcome biothiol interference.
• To utilize a selenol terminal-functionalized molecular beacon (MB-SeH) for SNAP-Se construction.
• To demonstrate the utility of SNAP-Se for bioimaging in living cells.

Main Methods:

• Synthesis of selenol terminal-functionalized molecular beacon (MB-SeH).
• Preparation of gold-selenium bonded SNAP (SNAP-Se) using MB-SeH.
• Evaluation of MB-SeH and SNAP-Se preparation.
• Testing SNAP-Se for biomarker imaging in living cells, assessing biothiol interference.

Main Results:

• Successful synthesis and characterization of MB-SeH and SNAP-Se.
• SNAP-Se demonstrated resistance to biothiol displacement of nucleic acid chains.
• The nanoprobe effectively avoided false positive signals in cellular imaging.
• SNAP-Se exhibited robust performance for biomarker imaging in living cells.

Conclusions:

• The developed Au-Se bond-based SNAP (SNAP-Se) effectively overcomes biothiol interference.
• This new SNAP design enhances stability and accuracy for bioimaging applications.
• The findings open new possibilities for designing and applying SNAPs in theranostics.