초록 |
A liquid-crystal-filled transmission electron microscopy (TEM) grid cell coated with the cationic surfactant dodecyltrimethylammonium bromide(DTAB), to which a single-stranded deoxyribonucleic acid probe (ssDNAprobe) was adsorbed at the LC/aqueous interface(TEMDTAB/DNA), was applied for the highly specific detection of target DNA molecules. The DTAB-coated E7 (used LC mixture) in the TEM grid (TEMDTAB) exhibited a homeotropic orientation, and changed to a planar orientation upon adsorption of the ssDNAprobe. The TEMDTAB/DNA was then exposed to complementary (target) ssDNA, which resulted in a planar-to-homeotropic configurational change of E7 that could be observed through a polarized optical microscope under crossed polarizers. The optimum adsorption density (2μM) of ssDNAprobe enabled the detection of ≥0.05nM complementary ssDNA. which broaden the applications of LC-based biosensors to pathogen detection.
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