A RCA-based assay for analyzing individual strand break in DNA heteroduplex cleavage by restriction endonucleases

Screening substrate-binding positions by rolling circle amplification suggesting a binding model of Nt.BstNBI

Nicking endonucleases (NEs) become increasingly attractive for their promising applications in isothermal amplification. Unfortunately, in comparison with their applications, their catalytic mechanism studies have relatively lagged behind due to a paucity of crystal structure information. Nt.BstNBI is one of those widely used NEs. However, many aspects of its catalytic mechanism still remained to be explored. Herein, we employed only rolling circle amplification (RCA) assay as a major analytic tool and succeeded in identifying the potential binding positions and regions of the DNA substrate based on locked nucleic acid modification, DNA duplex length of substrate, and substrate mismatch designs. Based on these data, we, for the first time, revealed that Nt.BstNBI was likely to recognize six adjacent positions of the recognition sequence (G1rt, A2rt, G3rt, A2rb, C3rb, and T4rb) in the major groove and hold three positions of the cleavage sequence (N3ct, N4ct, and N7cb) in the minor groove of DNA duplex for nicking. Moreover, this work also demonstrated the unexpected efficiency of RCA to study the macromolecular interaction for certain kind of nucleases in an easy and high-throughput way.

Mapping the nicking efficiencies of nickase R.BbvCI for side-specific LNA-substituted substrates using rolling circle amplification

We used a novel asymmetric cleavage analysis method based on rolling circle amplification (RCA) to determine the effects of LNA modification of substrate on the two subunits of R.BbvCI cleavage. We designed two sets of cleavage circular substrates by using two different ligation strategies and analyzed the single strand cleavage efficiency affected by different modification positions both from the cleaved strands and the uncleaved strands. Results showed that the effects of LNA on cleavage rates of modified strands and unmodified strands were both site-dependent. The Nb.BbvCI and Nt.BbvCI were affected by LNA modification in different way. Most of the modification positions showed strong inhibition of both of these two nickases cleavage. However, the modification in T3 position of bottom strand hardly affected both of the two nickases activities. The results suggested an intimated interaction between the two subunits of R.BbvCI, and the T3 position in bottom strand might be a less tight position which was hard to be disturbed.

Production of dumbbell probe through hairpin cleavage-ligation and increasing RCA sensitivity and specificity by circle to circle amplification

Dumbbell probe (DP) attracts increasing interests in rolling circle amplification (RCA). A universal DP production method through cleavage-ligation of hairpin was proposed and optimized. The production is characterized by restriction endonuclease (RE)-induced cleavage ends ligation. It has the advantage of phosphorylation-free, splint-free and purification-free. To optimize designing, we found that the position of RE cleavage sequence in the stem and the primer position in the loop affected the formation and amplification of DP obviously. Both sticky and blunt ends cleaved by RE produce DP efficiently. Moreover, we introduced this DP into circle to circle (C2C) RCA based on the same cleavage-ligation principle, and acquired high sensitivity. By combining a two-ligation design and the C2C strategy, specificity for detecting let-7 family members was increased extremely. Furthermore, coreaction of different steps facilitated convenient formation and amplification process of DP.

An electrochemical peptide cleavage-based biosensor for matrix metalloproteinase-2 detection with exonuclease III-assisted cycling signal amplification

In this work, an electrochemical peptide biosensor was developed for matrix metalloproteinase-2 (MMP-2) detection by conversion of a peptide cleavage event into DNA detection with exonuclease III (Exo III)-assisted cycling signal amplification.

A review: microRNA detection methods

MicroRNA (miRNA) detection is of considerable significance in both disease diagnosis and in the study of miRNA function. The importance of miRNA itself is due to the complicated regulatory functions it plays in various life processes and its close relationship with some diseases. Traditional methods for miRNA detection do not meet the current demands, so various novel methods have been developed with a special focus on sensitivity and specificity. Herein, we summarize and discuss the newly developed miRNA detection methods.

A novel strategy to analyze L-tryptophan through allosteric Trp repressor based on rolling circle amplification

Rolling circle amplification (RCA) has been considered as a powerful tool for nucleic acids detection. Here, a novel repressor-RCA-based method for L-tryptophan (L-Trp) detection was developed. This method utilizes the specific interaction between the RCA circular template and the Trp repressor protein (TrpR) involved in trp operon of Escherichia coli (E. coli). In the absence of L-Trp, the TrpR protein could not bind to the RCA template, and the RCA process can be continued. When L-Trp is present, the activated TrpR will bind to the operon sequence on the RCA template and inhibit the RCA reaction. Thus, the concentration of L-Trp is correlated directly with the fluorescent RCA signals. We succeeded in detecting L-Trp in a single step in simple homogeneous reaction system. The detection limit was estimated to be 0.77 μM (S/N=3) with good linearity. The method can unambiguously distinguish L-Trp from other 19 standard amino acids and L-Trp analogs. This strategy is also promising for detecting many small molecules such as other amino acids and carbohydrates.