1. Direct Zeptomole Detection of RNA Biomarkers by Ultrabright Fluorescent Nanoparticles on Magnetic Beads.
- Author
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Cruz Da Silva E, Gaki P, Flieg F, Messmer M, Gucciardi F, Markovska Y, Reisch A, Fafi-Kremer S, Pfeffer S, and Klymchenko AS
- Abstract
Nucleic acids are important biomarkers in cancer and viral diseases. However, their ultralow concentration in biological/clinical samples makes direct target detection challenging, because it leads to slow hybridization kinetics with the probe and its insufficient signal-to-noise ratio. Therefore, RNA target detection is done by molecular (target) amplification, notably by RT-PCR, which is a tedious multistep method that includes nucleic acid extraction and reverse transcription. Here, a direct method based on ultrabright dye-loaded polymeric nanoparticles in a sandwich-like hybridization assay with magnetic beads is reported. The ultrabright DNA-functionalized nanoparticle, equivalent to ≈10 000 strongly emissive rhodamine dyes, is hybridized with the magnetic bead to the RNA target, providing the signal amplification for the detection. This concept (magneto-fluorescent sandwich) enables high-throughput detection of DNA and RNA sequences of varied lengths from 48 to 1362 nt with the limit of detection down to 0.3 fm using a plate reader (15 zeptomoles), among the best reported for optical sandwich assays. Moreover, it allows semi-quantitative detection of SARS-CoV-2 viral RNA directly in clinical samples without a dedicated RNA extraction step. The developed technology, combining ultrabright nanoparticles with magnetic beads, addresses fundamental challenges in RNA detection; it is expected to accelerate molecular diagnostics of diseases., (© 2024 The Author(s). Small published by Wiley‐VCH GmbH.)
- Published
- 2024
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