A sensitive fluorimetric biosensor for detection of DNA hybridization based on Fe/Au core/shell nanoparticles

Abstract

In this study, we reported a sensitive fluorescent biosensor for detection of DNA hybridization based on Fe/Au core/shell (Fe@Au) nanoparticles (NPs). First, Fe@Au NPs were synthesized using a reverse micelle method, with gold as the shell and iron as the core. The nanoparticle size was confirmed by transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) was performed in order to elucidate the morphology of the Fe@Au NPs. Then probe DNA with –SH at the 5′-phosphate end was covalently immobilized onto the surface of the Fe@Au NPs. The DNA hybridization event can be detected by a fluorescent method and methylene blue (MB) as the fluorescent probe. The decline of the fluorescence intensity of MB (ΔF) was linear with the concentration of the complementary DNA from 3.0 × 10⁻¹³ to 1.0 × 10⁻⁹ M with a detection limit of 1.0 × 10⁻¹³ M (S/N = 3). In addition, this approach of DNA detection exhibited excellent selectivity, even for single-mismatched DNA detection.