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Fluorescent detection of silver(I) and cysteine using SYBR Green I and a silver(I)-specific oligonucleotide

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Abstract

We report on a novel method for the determination of silver ion (Ag+) and cysteine (Cys) by using the probe SYBR Green I (SGI) and an Ag+-specific cytosine-rich oligonucleotide (C-DNA). The fluorescence of SGI is very weak in the absence or presence of randomly coiled C-DNA. If, however, C-DNA interacts with Ag+ through the formation of cytosine-Ag+-cytosine (C-Ag+-C) base pairs, the randomly coiled C-DNA undergoes a structural changes to form a hairpin-like structure, thereby increasing the fluorescence of SGI. This fluorescence turn-on process allows the detection of Ag+ in the 10–600 nM concentration range, with a detection limit of 4.3 nM. Upon the reaction of Ag+ with Cys, Cys specifically removes Ag+ from the C-Ag+-C base pairs and destroys the hairpin-like structure. This, in turn, results in a decrease in fluorescence intensity. This fluorescence turn-off process enables the determination of Cys in the 8–550 nM concentration range, with a detection limit of 4.5 nM. The method reported here for the determination of either Ag+ or Cys is simple, sensitive, and affordable, and may be applied to other detection systems if appropriately selected DNA sequences are available.

Sencitive and selective detection of Ag+ and cysteine based on fluorescence change of SYBR Green I

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the Chongqing Natural Science Foundation (CSTC, 2007BB0049) and the National Natural Science Foundation Committee of China.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, MOE Key Laboratory on Luminescence and Real-Time Analysis, Southwest University, Chongqing, 400715, People’s Republic of China

    Wendan Pu, Chengzhi Huang & Dan Xua

  2. Department of Chemistry, Third Military Medical University, Chongqing, 400038, People’s Republic of China

    Huawen Zhao & Liping Wu

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  1. Wendan Pu
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  2. Huawen Zhao
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  3. Chengzhi Huang
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  4. Liping Wu
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  5. Dan Xua
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Correspondence to Huawen Zhao.

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Pu, W., Zhao, H., Huang, C. et al. Fluorescent detection of silver(I) and cysteine using SYBR Green I and a silver(I)-specific oligonucleotide. Microchim Acta 177, 137–144 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00604-012-0763-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00604-012-0763-z

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