A review on silver-mediated DNA base pairs: methodology and application

Abstract The investigation of the interaction between metal ions and DNA has always attracted much attention in the fields of bioinorganic chemistry, supramolecular coordination chemistry, and DNA nanotechnology. Its mode of action can be simply divided into two aspects. On the one hand, it is non-specific electrostatic adsorption, mainly including Na ⁺ , K ⁺ , Mg ²⁺ , Ca ²⁺ and other physiologically regulating ions; on the other hand, it is specific covalent binding, such as Pt ²⁺ , Hg ²⁺ , Ag ⁺ and other heavy metal ions. This article focuses on the mechanism of action between Ag ⁺ and DNA mismatch pair C-C, and summarizes its main characterization methods and various applications. It aims to provide a certain reference for the field of biological devices. With the development of cryo-electron microscopy and liquidcell TEM, the structure of C-Ag ⁺ -C is expected to be further characterized, which will be more widely used.