Lighting Up Biochemiluminescence by the Surface Self‐Assembly of DNA–Hemin Complexes

Abstract

Illuminating DNA: The assembly of two tailored nucleic acids (colored blue and brown in the scheme) in the presence of hemin yields a G‐quadruplex that exhibits peroxidase‐like activity and catalyzes the generation of chemiluminescence in the presence of H2O2 and luminol. The DNAzyme is employed for the analysis of DNA (green) in solution and on surfaces.

Interaction of hemin with quadruplex DNA

“…Then, 250 μl of 20 mM H 2 O 2 stock solution was added quickly into the cuvette and emission spectra were recorded. Two samples were prepared; sample 1 was prepared in HEPES buffer 20 mM containing EDTA 0.1 mM, DMSO 1%, triton X-100 0.025%, KCl 150 mM, pH 8; in sample 2, KCl 150 mM was replaced with NaCl 150 mM pH [16][17][18][19].…”

Base‐Pairing Directed Folding of a Bimolecular G‐Quadruplex: New Insights into G‐Quadruplex‐Based DNAzymes

“…[14,15,[17][18][19][20] An intermolecular Gquadruplex consisting of two G-rich single-stranded DNAs is also able to form an effective DNAzyme with hemin. [21] This bimolecular G-quadruplex is found to exhibit an enhanced DNAzyme function after treatment with the complementary DNA of its two free nucleic acid parts. [14] This suggests that base pairs flanking the G-quadruplex motif contribute to the formation of the DNAzyme, providing evidence for the design of G-quadruplex-based DNAzymes with improved properties.…”

Improved method for chemiluminescent determination of peroxidase-mimicking DNAzyme activity

“…On the other hand, complexes of hemin and its G-quadruplex aptamers named peroxidase-mimicking DNAzymes (PMDNAzymes) 1 possess significantly higher catalytic activity [11][12][13][14]. This feature allowed them to be used in the construction of various analytical assays and sensors [15][16][17][18][19].…”