Amplification of signals by the hybridization chain reaction (HCR) is a powerful approach for increasing signal strength in single-molecule fluorescence in situ hybridization, but probes tagged with an HCR initiator sequence are prone to producing false signals. Here we describe a system of interacting hairpin binary probes in which the HCR initiator sequence is conditionally sequestered. The binding of these probes to a perfectly complementary target unmasks the initiator, enabling the generation of an amplified signal. This probe system can distinguish single-nucleotide variations within single mRNA molecules and produces amplified signals in situ for both mutant and wild-type variants, each in a distinguishable color. This technology will augment studies of imbalanced allelic expression and will be useful for the detection of somatic mutations in cancer biopsies. By tiling these probes along the length of an mRNA target, enhanced signals can be obtained, thereby enabling the scanning of tissue sections for gene expression utilizing lower magnification microscopy, overcoming tissue autofluorescence, and allowing the detection of low-abundance biomarkers in flow cytometry.
Keywords: RNA imaging; cancer diagnostics; mutation detection.