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Sci Tech
Simplified DNA detection
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Pairing of microelectrodes and gold nanoparticle probes simplifies DNA detection and could lead to a handheld device that is accurate, less expensive and faster than conventional methods.
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AN INNOVATIVE pairing of microelectrodes and gold nanoparticle probes is at the heart of new technology developed at Northwestern University that simplifies DNA detection and could lead to a handheld device that is more accurate, less expensive and faster than conventional methods.
"Nanotechnology can be used to get better results in all categories that are important in DNA detection — sensitivity, selectivity, cost, ease of use and speed," said Chad Mirkin, director of Northwestern's Institute for Nanotechnology, who led the research team.
Northwestern scientists used a synthetic sequence of DNA that models the anthrax lethal factor to test a technology that could displace polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and conventional fluorescence probes in clinical diagnostics and make point-of-care DNA testing possible in the doctor's office and on the battlefield.
A simple electrical signal indicates that target DNA has been detected, and hundreds of pathogenic agents could be monitored simultaneously.
Notably, the new DNA detection method eliminates the expensive and currently necessary step of heating the gene chip and also improves upon optical detection methods reported previously by Northwestern in Science.
Once optimised, the technology could be used to quickly and easily detect biological weapons such as anthrax and smallpox as well as a wide range of genetic and pathogenic diseases, from genetic markers for cancer and neurodegenerative diseases to HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases. Results could be available in a matter of minutes instead of days.
The technology, which has not been fully optimised yet, is 10 times more sensitive and 100,000 times more selective than conventional methods. It can pinpoint single-base mismatches that are missed by conventional fluorescence technology. This opens up opportunities in the rapidly growing area of single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) detection.
Now, companies in the business of gene chip technology use PCR coupled with fluorescence to do DNA testing. The gene chips are read using a confocal microscope, a complex instrument costing more than $60,000. The whole process requires a long series of complicated steps.
Northwestern's electrical DNA detection method could eliminate the expense of PCR and fluorescence and allow testing for thousands of different biological targets on one chip.
Using this method, various DNA tests can be placed on a glass slide, each test made up of single strands of synthesized DNA, or oligonucleotides, with a sequence designed to bind with its complementary target DNA.
These "capture" oligonucleotides are placed in between a pair of electrodes, one test for each pair.
The slide then is placed in a solution containing the target. Perfect and partial matches alike bind to the oligonucleotides on the slide's surface. The gold nanoparticle probes, each covered with 200 oligonucleotide strands, latch on to these pairings.
The probes are then amplified using modified photographic developing solution. Each gold nanoparticle becomes covered with silver and grows in size, closing the gap between the electrodes and carrying a current. The crucial next step is to eliminate the perfect match from a close match.
Temperature, or a thermal stringency wash, is the conventional tool for differentiating between the perfect and close match. With the new method, this complicated step is eliminated.
Instead, a change in the concentration of a salt solution can be used to break apart any mismatches. Only the perfect matches remain, allowing the silver-coated gold nanoprobes to carry a measurable electrical signal across the gap between electrodes.
The researchers made the important observation that these nanoparticle probes are very sensitive to changes in salt concentration, allowing them to replace the conventional thermal stringency wash with a "salt stringency wash."
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