DNA Antenna Tile-Associated Deoxyribozyme Sensor with Improved Sensitivity

Abstract

Some natural enzymes increase the rate of diffusion-limited reactions by facilitating substrate flow to their active sites. Inspired by this natural phenomenon, we developed a strategy for efficient substrate delivery to a deoxyribozyme (DZ) catalytic sensor. This resulted in a three- to fourfold increase in sensitivity and up to a ninefold improvement in the detection limit. The reported strategy can be used to enhance catalytic efficiency of diffusion-limited enzymes and to improve sensitivity of enzyme-based biosensors.

Keywords: DNA crossover tile; deoxyribozymes; diffusion-limited reactions; mycobacterium tuberculosis; split hybridization probes.