A Simple Colorimetric Assay of Bleomycin-Mediated DNA Cleavage Utilizing Double-Stranded DNA-Modified Gold Nanoparticles

A colorimetric assay of DNA cleavage by bleomycin (BLM) derivatives was developed utilizing high colloidal stability on double-stranded (ds) DNA-modified gold nanoparticles (dsDNA-AuNPs) possessing a cleavage site. The assay was performed using dsDNA-AuNPs treated with inactive BLM or activated BLM (Fe(II)⋅BLM). A 10-min exposure in dsDNA-AuNPs with inactive BLM treatment resulted in a rapid color change from red to purple because of salt-induced non-crosslinking aggregation of dsDNA-AuNPs. In contrast, the addition of active Fe(II)⋅BLM retained the red color, probably because of the formation of protruding structures at the outermost phase of dsDNA-AuNPs caused by BLM-mediated DNA cleavage. Furthermore, the results of our model experiments indicate that oxidative base release and DNA-cleavage pathways could be visually distinguished with color change. The present methodology was also applicable to model screening assays using several drugs with different mechanisms related to antitumor activity. These results strongly suggest that this assay with a rapid color change could lead to simple and efficient screening of potent antitumor agents.

DNA Terminal-Specific Dispersion Behavior of Polystyrene Latex Microparticles Densely Covered with Oligo-DNA Strands Under High-Salt Conditions

We prepared microspheres densely covered with oligo-DNA strands by immobilizing amino-terminated oligo-DNA strands on the surface of carboxylate polystyrene latex (PS) particles via the amide bond formation. The obtained microspheres (ssDNA-PS) stably dispersed in neutral pH buffer containing high concentrations of NaCl. For the ssDNA-PS ≥1 μm diameter, only 3 - 5% of surface-immobilized oligo-DNA could form a duplex with the complementary strands. Nevertheless, the resulting ssDNA-PS showed a distinct duplex terminal dependency in their dispersion behavior under neutral pH and high NaCl conditions; the microspheres with fully-matched duplexes on the surface spontaneously aggregated in a non-crosslinking manner. By contrast, the microspheres with terminal-mismatched duplexes remained dispersed under the identical conditions. These results suggest that the micrometer-scale particles covered with oligo-DNA strands also have high susceptibility to a duplex terminal sequence in their dispersion property, similar to previously reported DNA-functionalized nanoparticles. This property could potentially be used in various applications including analytical purposes.