Programmed Control of Fluorescence Blinking Patterns based on Electron Transfer in DNA

Fluorescence imaging uses changes in the fluorescence intensity and emission wavelength to analyze multiple targets simultaneously. To increase the number of targets that can be identified simultaneously, fluorescence blinking can be used as an additional parameter. To understand and eventually control blinking, we used DNA as a platform to elucidate the processes of electron transfer (ET) leading to blinking, down to the rate constants. With a fixed ET distance, various blinking patterns were observed depending on the DNA sequence between the donor and acceptor units of the DNA platform. The blinking pattern was successfully described with a combination of ET rate constants. Therefore, molecules with various blinking patterns can be developed by tuning ET. It is expected that the number of targets that can be analyzed simultaneously will increase by the power of the number of blinking patterns.