Hybridization chain reaction modulated DNA-hosted silver nanoclusters for fluorescent identification of single nucleotide polymorphisms in the let-7 miRNA family

•A simple fluorescent system was developed for the detection of miRNA.•Hybridization chain reaction (HCR) was employed as the amplification platform in this novel assay.•A hairpin probe with a poly-cytosine loop was first used as one of HCR monomers.•The probe was also used as the template for the formation of fluorescent silver nanoclusters.•The label-free, enzyme-free method achieved a good discrimination in the let-7 miRNA family.

A simple microRNA (miRNA) detection system based on hybridization chain reaction (HCR) has been developed using highly fluorescent DNA-hosted silver (Ag) nanoclusters. In this assay, a new type of hairpin DNA probe (MB1) containing a poly-cytosine nucleotide loop is designed and used as one of the HCR monomers, which is also demonstrated to be an ideal template for in situ synthesis of highly fluorescent Ag nanoclusters. Correspondingly, another HCR monomer (MB2) contains a poly-guanine nucleotide sticky end. Two monomers are stable to coexist in solution until the introduction of the initiator strand (let-7a) triggers a cascade of hybridization events that yields nicked double helices analogous. By taking advantage of HCR, a small amount of let-7a leads to the conformational change of a large amount of MB1, which results in the decrease of fluorescent signal greatly. Overall, this label-free, enzyme-free method allows the sensitive detection of let-7a with high specificity towards single nucleotide polymorphisms in the let-7 miRNA family. In addition, the simple “mix and measure” assay can be extended to detect other types of targets upon slight modification, and thus provides a tool for the early diagnosis and risk assessment of malignancy.