Fluorescence Resonance Energy Transfer-Based DNA Tetrahedron Nanotweezer for Highly Reliable Detection of Tumor-Related mRNA in Living Cells.

ABSTRACT: Accurate detection and imaging of tumor-related mRNA in living cells hold great promise for early cancer detection. However, currently, most probes designed to image intracellular mRNA confront intrinsic interferences arising from complex biological matrices and resulting in inevitable false-positive signals. To circumvent this problem, an intracellular DNA nanoprobe, termed DNA tetrahedron nanotweezer (DTNT), was developed to reliably image tumor-related mRNA in living cells based on the FRET (fluorescence resonance energy transfer) "off" to "on" signal readout mode. DTNT was self-assembled from four single-stranded DNAs. In the absence of target mRNA, the respectively labeled donor and acceptor fluorophores are separated, thus inducing low FRET efficiency. However, in the presence of tar

SUBMITTER: He L 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5519286 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature