Design and Synthesis of DNA-Templated Silver Nanoclusters for Recognition of microRNA-103

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are single-stranded RNAs that play key roles in cellular disorders or disease diagnosis. Thus the method for sensitive and selective detection of miRNAs is imperative to clinical diagnosis. Recently it has witnessed the rapid development of Metal Nanocluster-Based fluorescent probe design and its successful applications in detecting various targets, such as ssDNA, miRNA and Metal Ions. The DNA scaffolded Metal nanoclusters display excellent photostability, subnanometer size, nontoxicity, biocompatibility and thus well-suited as a fluorescent probe for biochemical applications. Here we develop a DNA/Metal Nanoclusters (MNCs)-based turn-on fluorescence method in the presence of target microRNAs as a potential biomarker for screening cancer. DNA scaffold Metal nanocluster was fabricated by a one-pot wet-chemical strategy and characterized by TEM and DLS techniques. This nanobisensor had a detection limit of 0.64pM. Conclusion, this nanobiosensors could become a potential alternative tools for detection of miRNAs in biological samples and useful in biomedical research and early clinical diagnosis.