Targeted DNA-driven catalytic assembly light-up ratiometric fluorescence of biemissive silver nanoclusters for amplified biosensing

Abstract

The isothermal assembly of a target-recognizable hairpin and a catalytic hairpin was driven by specific HIV-related DNA (hDNA) as a test model, outputting amplified duplexes to open a functional hairpin beacon (HB) tethering the templates of biemissive (green and red) silver nanoclusters (G-AgNCs and R-AgNCs). As such, their ratiometric fluorescence was remarkably lit up, achieving rapid, specific and sensitive biosensing with potential for disease diagnosis and biomolecule detection.