Dual-Channel Surface Plasmon Resonance for Quantification of ApoE Gene and Genotype Discrimination in Unamplified Genomic DNA Extracts

Identification of gene variation is of great importance for attaining information related to disease susceptibility. A highly sensitive and specific surface plasmon resonance (SPR) method for quantification of the apoE gene and genotype discrimination was demonstrated. The complementary sequences with the specific recognition sites of GCGC bases upon hybridization to the preimmobilized biotinylated probes could be cleaved by the restriction enzyme HhaI, while the existence of the single-base mismatch (GTGC) prevented the cleavage reaction. In both cases, the incorporation of streptavidin increased the sensitivity of the SPR assay, and the detection levels of 10 fM and 50 fM for the complementary and single-base mismatched sequences were attained, respectively. The sensing protocol is simple, label-free, and quantitative, thus avoiding the complicated polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification procedures. The proposed method serves as a viable means for facile and sensitive analyses of apoE genes in four unamplified genomic DNA extracts.