Light-harvesting Polymer Based DNA Assay for SNP Identification of BRCA1 Mutations

We report an improved strategy for conjugated polymer-based optical DNA detection with stem-loop structured DNA probes.The high sensitivity of conjugated polymer-based biosensors arises from light harvesting by the conjugated polymer and the related amplified fluorescent signal transduction either through quenching or through Fǒrster energy transfer) In our previous publication,we demonstrated that the coupling of magnetic particles to conjugated polymers significantly improves the selectivity of this class of DNA sensors.Here we further improved the selectivity by introducing both stem-loop structured capture probe and competition probe.We demonstrated further that this improved magnetically assisted DNA sensor can conveniently identify even a single-nucleotide mismatch in the target sequence.

We report an improved strategy for conjugated polymer-based optical DNA detection with stem-loop structured DNA probes. The high sensitivity of conjugated polymer-based biosensors arises from light harvesting by the conjugated polymer and the related amplified fluorescent signal transduction （either through quenching or through Forster energy transfer） In our previous publication, we demonstrated that the coupling of magnetic particles to conjugated polymers significantly improves the selectivity of this class of DNA sensors. Here we further improved the selectivity by introducing both stem-loop structured capture probe and competition probe. We demonstrated further that this improved magnetically assisted DNA sensor can conveniently identify even a single-nucleotide mismatch in the target sequence.