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Electrochemical detection of DNA methylation using a glassy carbon electrode modified with a composite made from carbon nanotubes and β-cyclodextrin

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Abstract

We describe a method for detecting DNA methylation. It is based on direct oxidation of DNA bases at a glassy carbon electrode (GCE) modified with film of a multiwalled carbon nanotube-β-cyclodextrin composite. This nano-structured film causes a strong enhancement on the oxidation current of DNA bases due to its large effective surface area and extraordinary electronic properties. Well-defined peaks were obtained as a result of electro-oxidation of guanine (at 0.67 V), adenine (at 0.92 V), thymine (at 1.11 V), cytosine (at 1.26 V), and 5-methylcytosine (at 1.13 V; all data vs. saturated calomel electrode (SCE)). The potential difference between 5-methylcytosine and cytosine (130 mV) is large enough to enable reliable simultaneous determination and analysis. The interference by thymine can be eliminated by following the principle of complementary pairing between purine and pyrimidine bases in DNA. The modified electrode was successfully applied to the evaluation of 5-methylcytosine in a fish sperm DNA, the methylation level of cytosine was found to be 7.47 %, and the analysis process took less than 1 h.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the National Scientific Foundation of China (NSFC NOs. 91417301, 21375101 and 60801020), the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (2042014kf0295), and the Natural Science Foundation of Hubei Province (ZRY2014000492), Wuhan Science and Technology Bureau (No: 20140601010057).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Pharmaceutical Science, Wuhan University, Wuhan, 430071, China

    Lili Wang, Feiyue Yu, Fang Wang & Zilin Chen

  2. State Key Laboratory of Transducer Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 10080, China

    Lili Wang, Fang Wang & Zilin Chen

Authors
  1. Lili Wang
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  2. Feiyue Yu
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  3. Fang Wang
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  4. Zilin Chen
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Correspondence to Fang Wang or Zilin Chen.

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Wang, L., Yu, F., Wang, F. et al. Electrochemical detection of DNA methylation using a glassy carbon electrode modified with a composite made from carbon nanotubes and β-cyclodextrin. J Solid State Electrochem 20, 1263–1270 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10008-016-3122-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10008-016-3122-x

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