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Colorimetric and Fluorescent Biosensors Based on Directed Assembly of Nanomaterials with Functional DNA

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Functional Nucleic Acids for Analytical Applications

Part of the book series: Integrated Analytical Systems ((ANASYS))

Abstract

This chapter reviews recent progress in the interface between functional nucleic acids and nanoscale science and technology, and its analytical applications. In particular, the use of metallic nanoparticles as the color reporting groups for the action (binding, catalysis, or both) of aptamers, DNAzymes, and aptazymes is described in detail. Because metallic nanoparticles possess high extinction coefficients and distance-dependent optical properties, they allow highly sensitive detections with minimal consumption of materials. The combination of quantum dots (QDs) with functional nucleic acids as fluorescent sensors is also described. The chapter starts with the design of colorimetric and fluorescent sensors responsive to single analytes, followed by sensors responsive to multiple analytes with controllable cooperativity and multiplex detection using both colorimetric and fluorescent signals in one pot, and ends by transferring solution-based detections into litmus paper type of tests, making them generally applicable and usable for a wide range of on-site and real-time analytical applications such as household tests, environmental monitoring, and clinical diagnostics.

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Acknowledgments

We thank other Lu group members for helpful discussions and Ms. Natasha Yeung for proofreading the chapter. The Lu group research described in this chapter has been generously supported by the U.S. Department of Energy, National Science Foundation, Department of Defense, Department of Housing and Urban Development, and National Institute of Health.

Authors
  1. Juewen Liu
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  2. Yi Lu
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biochemistry and Biomedical Sciences, McMaster University Hamilton, Ontario, Canada

    Li Yingfu

  2. Department of Chemistry, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Urbana, Illinois, USA

    Lu Yi

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Liu, J., Lu, Y. (2009). Colorimetric and Fluorescent Biosensors Based on Directed Assembly of Nanomaterials with Functional DNA. In: Yingfu, L., Yi, L. (eds) Functional Nucleic Acids for Analytical Applications. Integrated Analytical Systems. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-73711-9_6

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