A tetrahedral DNA nanoflare for fluorometric determination of nucleic acids and imaging of microRNA using toehold strands.

The authors describe a tetrahedral DNA nanostructure loaded with SYBR Green (SG-TDN) for fluorometric determination of nucleic acids. After intercalating into the TDN, fluorescence of SG is enhanced by 260-fold (exc 480 nm, em 524 nm), and the resulting SG-TDN nanoflare displays >7-fold stronger fluorescence than that of FAM-labeled TDN. The SG-TDNs were coupled to magnetic microparticles and polydopamine nanoparticles to construct multi-functional nanoprobes through sequence hybridization using a toehold strand. The method was applied to detect a stretch of microRNA sequence (20 bp) in buffer and in undiluted serum with excellent selectivity, over a wide linear range and with a low limit of detection (0.2 nM). The probe was also applied for visualization of tumor-related microRNA in living cells via fluorescence imaging. Graphical abstract Schematic representation of tetrahedron-based DNA nanoflare for fluorometric nucleic acid determination in undiluted blood serum and living cells.