The detection of a mismatched DNA by using hairpin DNA-templated silver nanoclusters.

Fluorescence assays have been developed to detect biomolecules using DNA-templated silver nanoclusters (DNA-AgNCs) utilizing their unique physical and optical properties. This study was designed to detect single-mismatched DNA by the hybridization of target DNA to template DNA either before or after DNA-AgNCs synthesis. The results showed that the detection specificity of a single-mismatched DNA was clearly enhanced when the target DNA (cDNA) was hybridized to template DNA prior to DNA-AgNCs synthesis compared with cDNA hybridization subsequent to DNA-AgNCs synthesis.