DNA-templated Ag nanoclusters as signal transducers for a label-free and resettable keypad lock.

We present a unique, label-free and resettable molecular keypad lock that utilizes DNA-modulated Ag nanoclusters (Ag NCs) as signal responsers. The present work demonstrates the first example that exonuclease-catalyzed DNA hydrolysis reaction could be used to achieve the RESET function of a molecular keypad without complicated procedures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]