Immobilization of aptamer-based molecular beacons onto optically-encoded micro-sized beads

J Nanosci Nanotechnol. 2011 Jul;11(7):6249-52. doi: 10.1166/jnn.2011.4501.

Abstract

This paper presents a method for the novel immobilization of aptamer-based molecular beacons (apta-beacons) onto optically-encoded micro-sized beads (apta-beacon beads). To immobilize apta-beacons onto flourescently-encoded micro-sized beads, core-shell type beads containing a fluorescent dye-encoded core and apta beacon-coupled shell were prepared. The fluorescent dye-encoded beads were prepared from TentaGel resins by coupling RITC to the amino groups of the core region, after partial protection of amino groups with Fmoc-OSu in a diffusion-controlled manner. After deprotection of the Fmoc-amino groups, FITC-coupled molecular beacons (MBs) were immobilized to the beads together with a quencher by covelent bonding. Briefly, aspartic acid (Asp) was coupled to the shell part of the beads. Then, the quencher was coupled to the N-terminal amino group of Asp and the MBs were coupled to the side chain carboxyl group. In a model study, thrombin was directly detected using this apta-beacon bead method. The thrombin-bound apta-beacon beads were easily recognized by the appearance of fluorescence without any further labeling step.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Aptamers, Peptide / chemistry*
  • Aspartic Acid / chemistry
  • Biosensing Techniques / instrumentation*
  • Fluorenes / chemistry
  • Fluorescent Dyes / chemistry
  • High-Throughput Screening Assays
  • Immobilized Proteins / chemistry*
  • Microspheres*
  • Molecular Biology / methods*
  • Nanotechnology / instrumentation*
  • Rhodamines / chemistry
  • Thrombin / chemistry

Substances

  • Aptamers, Peptide
  • Fluorenes
  • Fluorescent Dyes
  • Immobilized Proteins
  • Rhodamines
  • Aspartic Acid
  • Thrombin