A resonance Rayleigh scattering sensor for detection of Pb2+ ions via cleavage-induced G-wire formation

A resonance Rayleigh scattering (RRS) aptasensor was fabricated for detection of Pb2+ via hairpin-like label-free substrate and G-wire for signal amplification. A hairpin-like DNA substrate contains a sequence in the loop labeled with ribonucleobase A and c-myc sequence in the stem. When hybridized with 8-17 DNAzyme in the presence of Pb2+, the sequence in the loop was activated and cleaved. Hundreds of c-myc sequences departing from the 8-17 DNAzyme yield nanowires superstructure called G-wire in the presence of Mg2+. The polymer G-wire was demonstrated by the RRS spectrum, polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, and AFM. The RRS intensity was enhanced by the product G-wires, and the RRS signal at 370 nm was linear with the logarithm of Pb2+ concentration in the range of 2.0 nM to 5.0 mu M. This method was selective for Pb2+ even coexisting with other metal ions at high concentrations and was successfully applied to the determination of Pb2+ in real samples. The aptasensor holds a great promise for universal RRS sensing platform for sensitive detection of various metal ions just by changing the sequence of the probe in the loop and DNAzyme. (C) 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.