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Highly active G-quadruplex/hemin DNAzyme for sensitive colorimetric determination of lead(II)

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Abstract

A UV-vis, CD, and differential pulse voltammetric study was performed on the deactivation of the activity of parallel G-quadruplex/hemin DNAzymes (G4 DNAzymes) by Pb(II). The G4 DNAzyme carries a d[TC] sequence at its 3′ end and is stabilized by potassium(I). On addition of Pb(II), the K(I) ions in the parallel G4 are replaced by Pb(II) to keep the parallel topology. Intruded Pb(II) decrease the affinity between the topology and hemin, this leads to a decrease of DNAzyme activity for catalyzing the oxidation of 2,2′-azino-bis(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid) by hydrogen peroxide to form a green dye with an absorption maximum at 420 nm. The assay does not use any amplification, and has a linear response in the 0.01 to 10 μM Pb(II) concentration range and a 7.1 nM limit of detection. The method was successfully applied to the analysis of spiked water samples.

Schematic diagram of the colorimetric lead(II) assay based on the competition between K+ and Pb2+ stabilized G-quadruplex/hemin DNAzymes (G4 DNAzymes).

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Acknowledgements

We acknowledge the financial support of the National Natural Science Foundation of China (21503229, 21635005, and 21361162002), Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (020514380070, 020514380085, 020514380105, 020514380144), the funds of Nanjing University (020514912216, 020514911200, 0205145051), and self-funding projects from State Key Laboratory of Analytical Chemistry for Life Science, Nanjing University (5431ZZXM1905). J. Chen acknowledges funding from the China Scholarship Council.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Analytical Chemistry for Life Science, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Nanjing University, Nanjing, 210023, People’s Republic of China

    Jielin Chen, Yingying Zhang, Mingpan Cheng, Jean-Louis Mergny, Jun Zhou & Huangxian Ju

  2. Institut Curie, Université Paris-Saclay, CNRS-UMR 9187, INSERM U1196, F-91405, Orsay, France

    Jean-Louis Mergny

  3. National Demonstration Center for Experimental Chemistry, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Nanjing University, Nanjing, 210023, People’s Republic of China

    Qianmei Lin

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  1. Jielin Chen
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Chen, J., Zhang, Y., Cheng, M. et al. Highly active G-quadruplex/hemin DNAzyme for sensitive colorimetric determination of lead(II). Microchim Acta 186, 786 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00604-019-3950-3

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