DNA–Ag nanoclusters as fluorescence probe for turn-on aptamer sensor of small molecules

Abstract

As promising substitutes for organic dyes and quantum dots, few-atom fluorescent silver nanoclusters (Ag NCs) have recently gained much attention in a wide range from cellular imaging to chemical/biological detection applications owing to their ultrasmall size (<2nm), excellent photostability, good biocompatibility and water solubility. Herein, we design an aptamer, guanine-rich (G-rich) DNA and Ag NCs nanocomplex to investigate its ability for the detection of small molecules. The design contains two DNA strands which are both chimeric conjugates of the DNA aptamer sequence fragment and G-rich sequence fragment. Using cocaine as a model molecule, the two DNA strands are in free state if there is no cocaine present, and the formed Ag NCs through the reduction of Ag+ by NaBH4 show weak fluorescence emission. In the presence of cocaine, however, the two aptamer fragments bind cocaine, which in turn puts the two G-rich sequence fragments in proximity and the fluorescent intensity of DNA–Ag NCs enhances greatly. As a result, DNA–Ag NCs are demonstrated as a novel, cost-effective and turn-on fluorescent probe for the analysis of cocaine, with a detection limit of 0.1μM. Besides, successful detection of adenosine triphosphate (ATP) with detection limit of 0.2μM demonstrates its potential to be a general method.