Design of a fluorescent DNA IMPLICATION logic gate and detection of Ag+ and cysteine with triphenylmethane dye/G-quadruplex complexes

This paper describes the construction of a DNA IMPLICATION logic gate based on triphenylmethane (TPM) dye/G-quadruplex complexes, using Ag+ and cysteine (Cys) as the two inputs, and fluorescence intensity of the TPM dye as the output signal. Free triphenylmethane (TPM) dyes emit inherently low fluorescence signal, the formation of TPM dye/G-quadruplex complexes yielded greatly enhanced fluorescence signals from the dye, and the output signal of the gate was 1. The addition of Cys had no effect on the fluorescence signal, again yielding an output of 1. However, the addition of Ag+ instead of Cys greatly disrupted the G-quadruplex structure, causing a decrease in the fluorescence of the dye, and yielding an output signal of 0. The addition of Cys into the Ag+-quenched fluorescence system led to the release of Ag+ from G-quadruplex-forming DNAs, resulting in the reformation of G-quadruplex structures and the recovery of TMP dye fluorescence, the output signal of 1 was obtained again. Compared with previously published DNA logic gates, the gate operation described here was rapid and reversible, with a reliable, nondestructive readout and excellent digital behavior. In addition, the modulation of TPM dye/G-quadruplex complex fluorescence by Ag+ and Cys could be used to develop a simple, fast, label-free and highly specific homogenous sensing methods for Ag+ and Cys.