Molecular beacon mediated circular strand displacement strategy for constructing a ratiometric electrochemical deoxyribonucleic acid sensor

•A novel ratiometric electrochemical method is developed for detection of target DNA.•The signal amplification is based on molecular beacon mediated circular strand displacement strategy.•The biosensor can detect DNA down to 28 fM level with a dynamic range spanning 5 orders of magnitude.•The special structures of the hairpin probes promote the detection selectivity.

A novel ratiometric electrochemical sensor for sensitive and selective determination of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) had been developed based on signal-on and signal-off strategy. The target DNA hybridized with the loop portion of ferrocene (Fc) labeled hairpin probe immobilized on the gold electrode (GE), the Fc away from the surface of GE and the methylene blue (MB) was attached to an electrode surface by hybridization between hairpin probe and MB labeled primer. Such conformational changes resulted in the oxidation peak current of Fc decreased and that of MB increased, and the changes of dual signals are linear with the concentration of DNA. Furthermore, with the help of strand-displacement polymerization, polymerase catalyzed the extension of the primer and the sequential displacement of the target DNA, which led to the release of target and another polymerization cycle. Thus the circular strand displacement produced the multiplication of the MB confined near the GE surface and Fc got away from the GE surface. Therefore, the recognition of target DNA resulted in both the “signal-off” of Fc and the “signal-on” of MB for dual-signal electrochemical ratiometric readout. The dual signal strategy offered a dramatic enhancement of the stripping response. The dynamic range of the target DNA detection was from 10−13 to 10−8 mol L−1 with a detection limit down to 28 fM level. Compared with the single signaling electrochemical sensor, the dual-signaling electrochemical sensing strategy developed in this paper was more selective. It would have important applications in the sensitive and selective electrochemical determination of other small molecules and proteins.

Graphical abstractA novel ratiometric electrochemical DNA-sensor has been developed based on circular strand displacement strategy.Figure optionsDownload full-size imageDownload as PowerPoint slide