Nanocrystal-Based Bioelectronic Coding of Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms

摘要

Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) are point mutations that constitute the most common genetic variation.Reliable methods for rapid screening of SNPs are highly desired for studying and identifying disease-causing genes.1-2 Current methods for screening human SNPs rely on a wide variety of probes (e.g.,molecular beacons,3 peptide nucleic acids,4 gold-particle labeled oligonucleo-tides5) and nucleic-acid protocols (such as ligation,6 primer extension,7 or endonuclease digestion8) in connection with different detection platforms (e.g.,fluorescence,9 gel electrophoresis,10 mass spectroscopy,11 electrochemistry,12 and microgravimetry13).However,these protocols are not yet widely used in routine clinical settings.Additional efforts are thus needed to create more broadly applicable methods that would allow accurate,sensitive,rapid,and low-cost SNP identification.Herein,we demonstrate how inorganic nanocrystal tags can lead to distinct bioelectronic signatures for unknown individual SNPs as well as for known two-base mutations .in a single DNA target.