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This communication describes the synthesis of an electrochemically active oligonucleotide probe and its application in sensing complementary oligonucleotides sequences using a T7 exonuclease enzyme. Target oligonucleotides are detected by hybridisation with a ferrocene labelled probe oligonucleotide followed by addition of T7 exonuclease. The T7 enzyme is a double strand specific exonuclease that removes the terminal 5′ nucleotide of the probe sequence. The 5′ nucleotide is attached to a ferrocene label, which is subsequently detected at an electrode using differential pulse voltammetry. Time and temperature resolved measurements were performed and an associated study using dual labelled fluorophore–quencher labelled probes was performed to confirm the validity of the electrochemical assay. Keywords: DNA, Electrochemistry, T7 exonuclease

This paper describes the synthesis and application of a novel ferrocene (Fc) label that can be efficiently attached to oligonucleotides. We demonstrate how pulse electrochemical methods can be used to measure very low concentrations of ferrocene label and, importantly, show good electroanalytical discrimination between a labelled oligonucleotide and an enzyme digested labelled oligonucleotide, in which the ferrocene label nucleotide conjugate has been released. Real time in situ analysis gives a much greater understanding of the process. Potential applications include the detection of specific nucleic acid sequences and measurement of nuclease activity.