Dual-Signal Homogeneous Electrochemical System for Turn-On Assay of MicroRNA Based on Target-Switched Cyclic Amplification
摘要
Dual-signal electrochemical sensors have inherent self-correction function to overcome disturbances of experimental and environmental factors, but suffer from electrodes' modification or functional materials' preparation, resulting in cumbersome operation, weak stability and poor recognition efficiency. Herein, we propose a dual-signal electrochemical strategy for microRNA senstive detection based on target-driven T7 exonuclease (T7 Exo)-mediated signal amplification that eliminates the above-mentioned drawbacks. The recognition of methylene (MB) and ferrocene (Fc) co-tagged ssDNA (MB/Fc-ssDNA) by miRNA-155 resulted in the formation of double-stranded nucleic acids, which switched T7 Exo-assisted catalytic digestion on MB/Fc-ssDNA, achieving 1:N amplified generation of MB-mononucleotides (mNs) and Fc-mNs. Compared with MB/Fc-ssDNA, MB-mNs and Fc-mNs exhibited significantly declined electrostatic repulsion force toward working electrode, and then simultaneously generated two signals at distinct potentials, in which dual-signal analysis of miRNA-155 was achieved with limit of detection down to ~ fM level. This work renders a novel thinking concept to develop high-performance electrochemical sensors for early and reliable diagnosis of miRNA-related diseases, advancing the rapid development of intelligent medicines.