Quantum dots induce hot-start effects for Taq-based polymerase chain reaction

Abstract

Decent hot-start effects were here reported in Taq DNA polymerase-based polymerase chain reaction (PCR) when water-soluble CdTe quantum dots (QDs) were employed. The hot-start effects were revealed by the higher amplicon yields and distinguished suppression of nonspecific amplification after pre-incubation of PCR mix with quantum dots between 30°C and 56°C. DNA targets were well amplified even after PCR mixture was pre-incubated 3 hr at 30°C or 1 hr at 50°C. Importantly, the effects of QDs nanoparticles could be reversed by increasing the polymerase concentration, suggesting that there was an interaction between QDs and Taq DNA polymerase. Moreover, control experiment indicated that hot-start effect is not primarily due to the reduced polymerase concentration resulted from the above interaction. This study provided another good start to investigate potential implications of quantum dots in key molecular biology techniques

CdTe quantum dots accelerate the speed of Pfu-based polymerase chain reaction

“…These results further illustrated that there was likely a direct interaction between Pfu and CdTe QDs at low temperatures as reported previously. [16,17] The QDs used in this study are CdTe nanocrystals with a size of about 3-4 nm. Previous study [16] suggested that CdTe QDs directly interacted with Taq polymerase and such interaction may improve the catalytic activity of the Taq enzyme.…”

“…[16,17] The QDs used in this study are CdTe nanocrystals with a size of about 3-4 nm. Previous study [16] suggested that CdTe QDs directly interacted with Taq polymerase and such interaction may improve the catalytic activity of the Taq enzyme. However, such improvement was not as good as that in QD-facilitated PCR based on Pfu polymerase.…”

“…[10][11][12][13][14][15] Furthermore, QDs demonstrated very obvious hot-start features similar to those of commercial hot-start polymerase. [16,17] This report described a simple/economical, fast PCR based on the modifications of the cycling conditions with the help of cadmium telluride (CdTe) QDs. The QDs could greatly speed up DNA amplification, and the total PCR reaction time could be significantly shortened from 143 to 46 min in this study.…”

Single Platform for Gene and Protein Expression Analyses Using Luminescent Gold Nanoclusters

“…Alternatively, one could develop new technology that would unify both the gene and protein analyses in a single platform by virtue of single biofriendly signal-generating probe to achieve rapid staining techniques. This would allow easy access of rapid diagnostics by a large population at an affordable cost. , The efficiency of the PCR process has been improved through the usage of metal nanoparticles, quantum dots, carbon nanotubes, carbon nanoparticles, graphene, etc. − The plasmonic , and luminescent nanomaterials are useful as diagnostic probes in PCR and array-based methods. However, because of high sensitivity and background-related issues, fluorometric techniques are preferred over colorimetric assays .…”