Molecular Engineering of DNA: Molecular Beacons |
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| Authors: | Kemin Wang Prof. Zhiwen Tang Dr. Chaoyong James Yang Dr. Youngmi Kim Dr. Xiaohong Fang Prof. Wei Li Yanrong Wu Colin D. Medley Dr. Zehui Cao Dr. Jun Li Dr. Patrick Colon Hui Lin Weihong Tan Prof. |
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| Affiliation: | 1. Department of Chemistry and Department of Physiology and Functional Genomics, Center for Research at the Bio/Nano Interface, UF Genetics Institute and Shands Cancer Center, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611‐7200 (USA), Fax: (+1)?352‐846‐2410;2. Biomedical Engineering Center, State Key Laboratory of Chemo/Biosensing and Chemometrics, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Hunan University, Changsha 410082 (P.R. China);3. Department of Chemical Biology, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Xiamen University, Xiamen 361005 (P.R. China);4. Institute of Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 2 Zhongguancun Beiyijie, Beijing 100190 (P.R. China) |
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| Abstract: | Molecular beacons (MBs) are specifically designed DNA hairpin structures that are widely used as fluorescent probes. Applications of MBs range from genetic screening, biosensor development, biochip construction, and the detection of single‐nucleotide polymorphisms to mRNA monitoring in living cells. The inherent signal‐transduction mechanism of MBs enables the analysis of target oligonucleotides without the separation of unbound probes. The MB stem–loop structure holds the fluorescence‐donor and fluorescence‐acceptor moieties in close proximity to one another, which results in resonant energy transfer. A spontaneous conformation change occurs upon hybridization to separate the two moieties and restore the fluorescence of the donor. Recent research has focused on the improvement of probe composition, intracellular gene quantitation, protein–DNA interaction studies, and protein recognition. |
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| Keywords: | aptamers DNA genomics hairpin structures molecular beacons |
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