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Simple construction of a two-component fluorescent sensor for turn-on detection of Hg2+ in human serum

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Abstract

The simply constructed fluorescent sensor with inexpensive reagents and low toxicity has attracted increasing attention contributing to its practical application. However, the common construction methods usually required a few building blocks and complex procedures, which is inconvenient for their further application. Herein, a simply constructed fluorescent Hg2+ sensor has been developed based on the intrinsic fluorescence quenching power of G-quadruplex. Two components, AGRO 100 and AMT, were used to construct the sensor. AMT was selected as the fluorescent probe because of its distinct merits. The free AMT emits strongly. However, the fluorescence of AMT could be quenched by G-quadruplex DNA. Additionally, AMT is less toxic and inexpensive. AGRO 100 acts as both the quencher and the capture sequence because it consists of G-rich sequences and T-T mismatched base pairs. The fluorescence of AMT could be quenched by the formed G-quadruplex structure of AGRO 100 in the presence of K+. In the presence of Hg2+, G-quadruplex structure of AGRO 100 was switched to hairpin DNA structure because T-T mismatched base pairs in AGRO 100 could specifically recognize and capture Hg2+ with high affinity. Thus, AMT was released and the fluorescence of AMT was recovered. The developed sensing system was successfully applied to detect Hg2+ in human serum with good recovery and reproducibility.

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Funding

This study received financial support from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant no. 21575087), Key Technology R&D Program of Jiangsu (BE2021632), Key R&D Program of XuZhou (KC20055), Natural Science Foundation of Anhui Provincial Department of Education (no. KJ2019A0598), Innovation Team of Peak Discipline of Chemistry (grant no. GFXK202108), and Innovation Scientists and Technicians Troop Construction Projects of Henan Province (grant no. 41).

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Author notes

  1. Fenghua Geng and Dandan Wang contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. National Engineering Research Center of Coal Preparation & Purification, Key Laboratory of Coal Processing & Efficient Utilization of Ministry of Education, School of Chemical Engineering & Technology, China University of Mining & Technology, Xuzhou, 221116, China

    Fenghua Geng & Li Feng

  2. Henan Key Laboratory of Biomolecular Recognition & Sensing, College of Chemistry & Chemical Engineering, Henan Joint International Research Laboratory of Chemo/Biosensing & Early Diagnosis of Major Diseases, Shangqiu Normal University, Shangqiu, 476000, China

    Fenghua Geng & Maotian Xu

  3. College of Chemistry & Chemical Engineering, Xinjiang Normal University, Urumqi, 830054, China

    Dandan Wang & Guixin Li

  4. College of Chemistry & Material Science, Huaibei Normal University, Huaibei, 235000, China

    Congying Shao

Authors
  1. Fenghua Geng
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  2. Dandan Wang
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  4. Guixin Li
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  6. Li Feng
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Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Guixin Li, Maotian Xu or Li Feng.

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All experiments were performed in accordance with the guidelines about research involving human subjects (no. 20170201) and approved by the ethics committee of Henan Key Laboratory of Biomolecular Recognition & Sensing, Shangqiu Normal University (Shangqiu, China). Informed consent was obtained from all the participants of this study.

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Geng, F., Wang, D., Shao, C. et al. Simple construction of a two-component fluorescent sensor for turn-on detection of Hg2+ in human serum. Anal Bioanal Chem 414, 2021–2028 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00216-021-03837-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00216-021-03837-z

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