Gold-Nanorod-Based Colorimetric and Fluorescent Approach for Sensitive and Specific Assay of Disease-Related Gene and Mutation

Sensitive and specific detection of disease-related gene and single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) is of great importance in cancer diagnosis. Here, a colorimetric and fluorescent approach is described for detection of the p53 gene and SNP in homogeneous solution by using gold nanorods (GNRs) as both colorimetric probe and fluorescence quencher. Hairpin oligonucleotide was utilized as DNA probe to ensure highly sequence-specific detection of target DNA. In the presence of target DNA, the formation of DNA duplex greatly changed the electrostatic interaction between GNR and DNAs, leading to an obvious change in fluorescence and colorimetric response. The detection limit of fluorescent and colorimetric assay is 0.26 pM and 0.3 nM, respectively. Both fluorescence and colorimetric strategies were able to effectively discriminate complementary DNA from single-base mismatched DNA, which is meaningful for cancer diagnosis. More important, target DNA can be detected as low as 10 nM by the naked eye. Furthermore, transmission electron microscopy and fluorescence anisotropy measurements demonstrated that the color change as well as fluorescence quenching is ascribed to the DNA hybridization-induced aggregation of GNRs. Therefore, the assay provided a fast, sensitive, cost-effective, and specific sensing platform for detecting disease-related gene and SNP.